Brent oil price rises to near $105 on renewed Middle East concerns

The price of Brent oil futures opened Tuesday’s session higher near $105 a barrel after Israeli air strikes around Damascus refocused attention on the potential for disruption to supply from the Middle East.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, ICE Brent crude oil futures for June 2013 delivery was trading at $104.19 a barrel, 07:18 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange. Brent oil is up by nearly $7 a barrel since last Wednesday and posted its largest three day rise since August 2012. Brent crude for June settlement increased $1.27 to end the session at $105.46 a barrel, the highest closing level since 10th April.

Middle East Supply Concerns

Brent crude oil rose 1.3 percent after Syria’s state news agency said Israeli aircraft attacked a military research center on the outskirts of Damascus yesterday. The Syrian government said that Israeli air strikes against military targets around Damascus amounted to a “declaration of war” and threatened retaliation, in the latest sign that the fighting is spilling across the Syrian border and risks sparking a wider regional conflict.

“The Israeli attacks on Syrian targets are raising fears that the Syrian civil war could turn into a regional conflict,” said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA Inc, New York.

In a further development, UN human rights investigators have said they have “strong suspicions” that Syrian rebel forces might have used the nerve agent sarin.

Israeli officials, who have neither asserted nor denied responsibility for the airstrikes, said Monday that their fight was not against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or the rebels fighting his regime but against the Lebanese political and militant organisation Hezbollah.

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Brent oil price rises to near $105 on renewed Middle East concerns