Oil prices yesterday extended gains in Asia to trade at highs for this, as fresh tensions in oil producer Libya raised concerns about a supply disruption in the Middle East, analysts said.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery next month climbed US$0.87 to US$61.27, while Brent crude for next month rose US$0.63 to US$68.15 in afternoon trade.
West Texas Intermediate jumped US$1.47 in New York, while Brent closed up US$1.12 in London. Both finished at levels unseen since early December last year.
“Geopolitical concerns in the Middle East continue to form a firm base for oil prices, be it Libya, Yemen or Iraq,” Nicholas Teo, market analyst at CMC Markets in Singapore, told reporters.
Media reports on Tuesday said protests in Libya had shut oil deliveries to a port in the east of the country.
Fighting since 2011 in OPEC member Libya has seen output reduced from a high of almost 1.5 million barrels a day to about 150,000 a day, analysts said.
Oil prices have in recent weeks also gained some support due to ongoing strife in Yemen, whose coast forms one side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait through which about 4.7 million barrels pass each day.
Analysts said dealers are awaiting the latest US crude stockpiles report for clues to the state of production in the world’s top crude consumer.
Oil prices rose last week after the US Department of Energy’s inventory report showed a 500,000 barrel drop in petroleum stocks to 61.7 million barrels at the Cushing, Oklahoma, trading hub, the first such decline since late November last year.
Traders took the decline as a sign that producers are cutting back at key US petroleum sites, raising hopes this could pave the way for an easing of a global supply glut. Overall US crude inventories likely rose by 1.5 million barrels through Friday, a Bloomberg News survey showed.
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