Oil prices were higher in late morning trade here as a hurricane threatened offshore production platforms and refineries in the US Gulf Coast, dealers said News of a suspension of Iraq's oil exports due to a labour strike by employees of the South Oil Company added to the market jitters. The employees are demanding a better share of oil export revenues from the government At 11:50 am (0350 GMT), New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August was at 58.56 usd a barrel, up 47 cents from its close of 58.09 usd in the United States on Friday The contract had risen 29 cents in closing deals at the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday after plunging over two dollars in the prior session "The market is reacting to the nasty weather in the Gulf of Mexico," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with US energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz, referring to Hurricane Emily "Emily is still the concern for the market... The storm season is the overriding concern for the market." Reports of the labour strike at the Iraqi oil field also helped push prices higher Nearly all of Iraq's daily output of 2.1 mln barrels in June come from southern oilfields, while all of the 1.43 mln barrels a day of exports flowed through southern terminals, according to Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum "Any news of supply disruption will certainly add to the concerns about the storm in the Atlantic," Shum said "And also, I think traders are looking ahead to the inventory situation to be released in the United States this week." Inventory data to be released by the Department of Energy on Wednesday is expected to show stocks have dipped because of the impact of the storms on production platforms and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico However, Shum noted that US crude inventories remain higher than the five-year average so the impact on prices should not be as severe