Brent oil price trading at $108 on Middle East tensions

22 February 2011 22 February 2011

BonTrade

Brent oil futures open Tuesday’s trading session over $2 higher at $108 a barrel as continued tensions in the Middle East see oil prices at new highs, last seen in the summer of 2008.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, Brent crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery surged to $108.02 a barrel, 06.50 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange.

Libya, Iran Warships Push Oil Higher

Oil prices have hit a two-and-a-half-year high on the back of the uprising in Libya as companies shut down production and evacuated staff. Fears were also stoked when the head of the Al Suwayya tribe in eastern Libya threatened to cut oil exports to western countries within 24 hours unless the authorities put an end to the “oppression of protesters”.

Meanwhile, two Iranian warships have entered the Suez Canal to make a passage to the Mediterranean Sea, canal officials say. Iranian officials have said the warships are headed to Syria for training, a mission Israel has described as a “provocation”.

“They entered the canal at 03.45 GMT,” Suez Canal officials said. It is believed to be the first time since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iranian warships have passed through the Suez Canal.