Brent oil futures open today’s trading session hovering near $116 a barrel as oil prices continue to emerge from recent falls as crude oil supply concerns from the Middle East continue, this time with Yemen in focus.<\/p>\n
Latest Brent Oil Price<\/strong><\/p>\n In London, Brent crude oil futures for July 2011 delivery was trading at $116.63 a barrel, 07.25 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange. The contract closed off yesterday’s trading session up 1.6 percent, to $116.55.<\/p>\n Middle East – Yemen Oil Supply Offline<\/strong><\/p>\n Renewed violence in Yemen, the Middle East oil producer which normally would produce around 270,000 barrels of oil per day has fallen significantly, according to analysts familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n Amrita Sen, an oil analyst at Barclays Capital in London, said that almost 90 per cent of Yemen\u2019s oil production was offline mainly due to a combination of pipeline attacks and worker strikes.<\/p>\n She said that the unrest in Yemen, which has increased in the past week, also posed a direct threat to the security of neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s second largest oil producer after Russia.<\/p>\n JBC Energy, the oil consultancy in Vienna, said that Yemen\u2019s proximity to Saudi Arabia and the presence of terrorist groups might be enough to ring the alarm bells among oil market participants.<\/p>\n Many experts are sure that if Saudi Arabia sees unrest similar to that of other Middle East countries, then oil prices would rocket to new record highs, with figures quoted well over the $200 a barrel mark.<\/p>\n Oil Prices and Saudi’s Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the IMF revised downward its 2011 forecast for economic growth in Saudi Arabia to 6.5 percent from 7.5 percent. However, Masood Ahmed, head of the IMF’s Middle East department, said that Saudi Arabia’s economy is well placed for continued robust growth.<\/p>\n Although oil futures have fallen from recent highs, both Brent and WTI oil prices are still trading well above trend levels seen in the past two years, helping to fuel internal economic growth in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n