Brent oil trading firm over $95, ICE Dollar Index gains

11 January 2011 11 January 2011

BonTrade

Brent oil prices open Tuesday’s trading session firm over $95 a barrel amid a stronger US dollar, as seen by upward movements in the ICE US Dollar Index.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, Brent crude oil futures for February 2011 delivery was trading at $95.38 a barrel, 06.30 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Meanwhile, the ICE US Dollar Index, which tracks the US dollar against six major world currencies, was slightly higher at 80.991 from 80.870 in late trading on Monday. A stronger US dollar tends to make oil prices drop, as commodities which are priced in dollars become more expensive for buyers using other currencies.

Alaska Oil Pipeline Scare Already Over

Oil prices received a boost yesterday after a leak at a major Alaskan oil pipeline had many fearing that oil supplies could tighten, and the price of both Brent and WTI oil prices rose around two percent. Alyeska Pipeline Co, which operates the 800 mile pipeline network, turned off the pipeline after workers discovered a leak.

However, the closure of the oil pipeline will be short lived as the leak is due to be fixed in the next fews days, according to a person familiar with the plans of Alyeska.

“This outage was enough to stampede some players back to the long side of the market, but it’s not a lasting or material change to the global supply/demand balance.” said Tim Evans, an oil analyst with Citi Futures Perspective.