Middle East fears fuel oil price

Jane Padgham12 April 2012

WORLD oil prices were on the climb today as Middle East tensions flared again and dealers reacted to an unexpected slump of crude stocks in the United States.

US light crude surged by 47 cents to $27.10 a barrel. It was the first time $27 had been breached for more than a week. Brent crude rose 19 cents to $25.60.

Israeli-Palestinian violence is one of the factors that has kept oil bubbling near six-month highs this year due to fears that any spread of unrest in the Middle East, which pumps a third of the world's crude oil, may lead to disruptions in supplies. Prices had been easing as Israel began to withdraw from Palestinian territory. But Tuesday's Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel, which killed 15 people, drove prices higher.

'The suicide bombings are keeping the markets on their toes, although there still does not seem to be any real risk of a widening of the conflict would affect supply,' said analyst Simon Games-Thomas at NM Rothschild.

The grim news coincided with new figures from the American Petroleum Institute showing a 4.5m barrel drop in crude inventories, more than double the fall expected. Ample stocks are vital ahead of peak demand during America's summer driving season.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in