Oil rose above $96 a barrel on Friday, surging to a one-month high as investors fixated on the possibility -- however slim -- of OPEC member Venezuela halting supplies to top consumer the United States.

The South American country, one of the largest crude exporters to the United States, cut shipments to Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) earlier this week after the U.S. oil major won court orders to freeze over $12 billion of Venezuela's assets.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a critic of U.S. President George W. Bush, imposed the embargo on Exxon after threatening to cut off all shipments to the United States in the row over nationalization of Exxon assets in Venezuela.

U.S. crude CLc1 was up 45 cents at $95.91 by 1015 GMT, after earlier hitting $96.05. London Brent crude LCOc1 rose 25 cents to $95.41.

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"I can't believe the Venezuelans will actually go ahead and do that, but as long as there is this uncertainty it's going to continue to have a bullish impact," said Tony Machacek at Bache Commodities.

U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Thursday he did not expect Exxon to have trouble replacing oil supplies from Venezuela, but said the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be available if needed. nN13311576

"Venezuela will not affect the crude supply fundamentally. There will be some risk premium but there will not be any natural shortfall in crude," said Gerard Burg of National Australia Bank in Sydney.

Major oil producers in the Middle East have already assured the United States they could compensate for a supply disruption if Venezuela slows exports.

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