Oil prices fall

LONDON. — Brent oil prices fell yesterday after investors took profit following a rally to 26-month highs spurred largely by threats from Turkey to cut crude exports from Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell 85 cents to $58,17 a barrel by 1405 GMT, having hit $59,49, the highest since July 2015 and more than 34 percent above their 2017 low.

US crude futures CLc1 slid 54 cents to $51,68 a barrel, after hitting a five-month high of $52,43.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated a threat to cut off the pipeline that carries 500 000-600 000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, intensifying pressure on the Kurdish autonomous region over its independence referendum.

This potential loss, combined with 1,8 million bpd of output reductions by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers, raised concerns of tighter supply.

The Iraqi government said it will not hold talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government about the results of the referendum, which is expected to show a comfortable majority in favour of independence after the results are announced later this week.

“Although there was plenty of price-bullish news making headlines yesterday, undoubtedly the biggest factor was the referendum in the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” analysts at Vienna-based JBC Energy said in a note.