WTI oil trading near $92 as Middle East tensions rise

21 February 2011 21 February 2011

BonTrade

WTI oil futures open the week’s trading session up $2, near $92 a barrel as tensions in the Middle East have traders and investors buying back into crude oil, mainly on supply concerns.

Latest WTI Oil Price

US Light crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery was trading at $91.98 a barrel, 08.15 GMT this morning on the NYMEX.

Focus on Libya

Violent demonstrations intensified in Libya over the weekend, as protestors attempt to end the 42 year rule of the country’s leader Moammar Gadhafi.

On Sunday the son of the Libyan leader appeared on state television and warned protesters that they risked inciting a civil war in which Libya’s oil wealth “will be burned,” the Wall St Journal reported on its website.

“This is a separatist movement and it threatens the unity of Libya as a country. A few people have died and violence against the police have escalated.” Seif al-Islam Gadhafi said in a televised speech.

Human Rights Watch estimates the death toll from four days of protests in cities across Libya is at least 223, according to a report on its website on Monday. Libya has the largest proven oil reserves in Africa.

Protests extended into Morocco for the first time over the weekend, and demonstrations continued in Bahrain and Iran.

Unfolding protests in the Middle East and North Africa have underpinned oil prices in recent weeks.

Analysts at ClearView Energy Partners said in a recent note that the events “have significant potential to impact petroleum supply, during and after any transition to a new government, because the nations undergoing turmoil contribute a meaningful share to global liquids production.”