The crude oil prices are peaking after concerns that Turkey may soon launch an invasion against northern Iraq in an attempt to hit Turkish militants it accuses of attacking Turkish targets.
Such an attack could destabilize the Kurdistan region, the only relatively peaceful area in Iraq.
Rapidly declining oil inventories in developed countries ahead of the northern hemisphere winter also helped push the price higher.
The previous record for a barrel oil was $83.90 and yesterday the price peaked to $84.05 a barrel. It closed at $83.71 a barrel, up 63 cents on the day.
Iraq pumped about 2.18m barrels a day of crude oil in September, up 190,000 b/d from August.
Turkey is a key route for a crude oil pipeline from the Caspian sea that is forecast to carry about 500,000 b/d of oil by the end of 2007.
The watchdog has asked the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to boost its supplies to build up inventories. Crude oil and products inventories usually increase in the third quarter, ahead of the winter, but so far they have fallen by 360,000 barrels a day.
(Tom Van thienen)
1 comment:
I think it's strange. When something happens in Iraq or in Turkey the price of the oil goes straight to the top.
Post a Comment