Oil prices climbed up as the week closed on Friday, picking up from the upgraded North American demand forecast of 50,000 barrels per day released by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the same day that a major pipeline pumping crude into the United States was shut down.

As North America's demand for oil soared further, light sweet crude October deliveries in New York's main contract surged by $US2.20 to $US76.45 per barrel while the Brent North Sea crude October deliveries in London went up by US 69 cents to $US78.16.

On the other hand, the IEA said that overall demand in Middle East and Asia plunged to 30,000 barrels per day but the agency noted that China's oil demand would continue its solid growth though in a much relax mode.

The week also saw a report from the US Department of Energy which showed that crude oil inventories dwindled by up to 1.9 million barrels from the week before though another report released a day earlier by the American Petroleum Institute furnished much higher figures, showing that stocks had plummeted by as much as 7.3 million barrels on the same period.

On Thursday, Illinois-based Enbridge Energy Partners announced that its Enbridge 6a pipeline, with up to 670,000 barrels per day of capacity, was closed following the detection of a leak on the line that connects the US mid-west to the Canadian source of crude oil.

Analysts said that both the inventory reports and the pipeline shutdown fairly contributed to investors' hope of higher prices as oil analyst Hamza Khan of The Schork Report observed that the pipeline factor practically kicked up the prices though may pipeline experts were doubtful that the Enbridge leak would be able to reduce supplies for a much longer period.

As workers rushed to re-channel supplies to other refineries, analysts said that while investors may show some signs of worries, the market is merely playing it safe for now as Tradition Energy broker Gene McGillian noted that such breakdowns could be fixed shortly and "it can be up and running by the end of the weekend."