Brent oil trading around $108 after five percent decline

Brent oil futures open today’s trading session firm around $108 a barrel after heavy losses saw over five percent knocked off Brent prices, mainly due to a decision by the IEA to tap global oil reserves to help bring down the price of oil.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, Brent crude oil futures for August 2011 delivery was trading at $108.25 a barrel, 07.30 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange. The contract fell 5.3 percent in trading yesterday to close at $108.13.

IEA Wades Into Help Cap Prices

The main reason behind yesterday’s slump in prices was due to IEA’s decision to tap emergency global oil reserves. The IEA said it decided to release 60 million barrels of crude to make up for lost Libyan output.

The IEA’s chief economist Fatih Birol had said on Tuesday there was is a strong potential that persistently high oil prices could derail the global economic recovery.

Birol said the average price of oil this year was $110, much higher than the $90 seen in 2008, the year that crude hit a record above $147 before the onset of the global recession.

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Brent oil trading around $108 after five percent decline