'The market is taking guidance from some mild restoration of confidence in the US, but the market still remains cautious,' said Mark Pervan, senior commodity strategist with ANZ Bank in Melbourne. 'For the moment they have calmed some fears, but there will be a lot of fence sitting before the plan comes out.' Oil prices have fallen about $50 since reaching a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 on concern that slowing economic growth in developed countries will undermine crude demand. Those fears deepened this week as turmoil in the U.S. financial system led to the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holding Inc. and an $85 billion government rescue of insurer American International Group Inc. 'Oil demand is coming off in the U.S. regardless of what Paulson does, but we may not see the sharp fall off that the market was increasingly worried about,' Pervan said. Nigeria's main militant group said Thursday that it bombed another oil pipeline, marking a sixth straight day of stepped-up violence in Africa's oil giant. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in a statement that it used high explosives to destroy the conduit run by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Shell officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The militants have declared an 'oil war' in the Niger Delta, where militants demanding more oil-industry funds from the federal government have increased attacks. About 40 percent of Nigeria's normal daily oil production is now offline, severely curtailing exports. 'The focus of the market right now has switched from supply to demand,' Pervan said. 'So these stories will have some impact, but not as much as they had during the last six month when the market was supply-driven.' In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures rose 2.3 cents to $2.8054 a gallon, while gasoline prices gained 1.75 cents to $2.499 a gallon. Natural gas for October delivery fell 5.5 cents to $7.566 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, October Brent crude rose $1.41 to $96.60 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.