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Brent crude oil price hangs onto early new year gains, nears $113 a barrel
Published on January 4, 2012 by Editor · No Comments
The price of Brent crude oil remains bullish in trading today, hanging onto gains seen on the first trading day of the new year and are at their highest level in about two months Wednesday as heightening tensions between Iran and the West raised fears of oil supply disruptions.
Latest Brent Oil Price
In London, Brent crude oil futures for February 2012 delivery was trading at $112.88 a barrel, 15.37 GMT today on the ICE Futures Exchange.
Brent crude closed Tuesday’s session at $112.27 a barrel up $4.89, while US Light crude oil prices also rose by more than $4 to nearly $103 a barrel.
Iran Sanctions – US and EU
On Saturday, President Barack Obama signed into law sanctions against Iran’s central bank, which processes most of the country’s oil export payments. On January 30, EU foreign ministers are set to gather in Brussels to discuss and agree a formal oil export ban on Iran.
The spike in oil prices will further fuel concerns that oil prices are likely to stay well above $100 a barrel for much of 2012. A recent poll of analysts have forecast that Brent oil futures would average $105 a barrel this year, down fractionally on 2010′s record high of $111 a barrel.
Analysts have also warned that on going tension in the Middle East means that oil prices are likely to remain volatile.
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