WTI oil closes near $83, French port strike boosts prices

WTI oil prices finshed the week near $83 a barrel on a weaker dollar and concerns that a continuing strike at a French oil port may begin affecting oil supplies.

US Light crude oil futures for November 2010 delivery closed at $82.88 a barrel, over a dollar higher than the $81.58 price achieved a week earlier on Friday 1st October.

A strike at a key French oil port moved into it’s thirteenth day, creating a backlog of offshore tankers and threatening to close some crude oil starved refineries.

Oil company Total said it may stop crude oil refining on Sunday at its 158,000 barrels per day La Mede refinery in southern France as the strike, in response to government plans to privatise the port of Fos-Lavera.

The strike was expected to continue into the weekend, with the potential increasing for deeper cutbacks in operations at some refineries in France, Germany and Switzerland.

Eight refineries which get oil supplies via the port have capacity of around 1.2 million barrels a day.

The French oil terminals at Fos-Lavera make up part of the world’s third largest oil port. The strike is leading to shutdowns at major refineries in southern France, and the situation is pushing up the price of both crude oil and petrol.

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WTI oil closes near $83, French port strike boosts prices