Brent oil price smashes through $100 a barrel, PM trading

31 January 2011 31 January 2011

BonTrade

Brent oil prices have traded through $100 a barrel this afternoon, the first time oil prices have been in triple digits since August of 2008, with continued turmoil in Egypt pushing Brent futures higher.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, Brent crude oil futures for March 2011 delivery smashed through $100 and was trading at $100.74 a barrel, 17.15 GMT on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Earlier today, Egyptian protesters called for a general strike and said they planned a “million man march” tomorrow to mark one week since the start of the upheaval.

Though Egypt is not a major oil producer, the continued protests stoked fears that shipping traffic at the Suez Canal could be interrupted or that the unrest could spread to major oil producers elsewhere in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, both Brent and US WTI oil futures got a boost from positive US economic news and rising stock markets in the west. The US Commerce Department said that consumer spending rose sharply in December, and purchases for the whole year increased at the fastest pace in three years.