Oil prices rose on Tuesday, edging above the nine-month closing high reached a day earlier, after labor unions in Nigeria rejected the government’s efforts to avert a nationwide strike.

Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer and one of the top overseas suppliers to the United States.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose 34 cents to $69.43 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract had risen $1.09 on Monday to settle at $69.09 a barrel, the first closing above $69 since Sept. 1. (AP Business Wire)