Oil up above $79 on Norway strike and Libyan disruption
tokyo — Oil prices rose by more than $1 dollar per barrel on Tuesday due to growing global supply outages, with Norway shutting down one oilfield as hundreds of workers began a strike and Libya saying its production more than halved in recent months.
The disruptions add to supply worries around the world. Venezuela’s production has collapsed due to a lack of investment and Iranian exports have suffered due to US sanctions. OPEC, meanwhile, has little capacity to fill the gap as demand for oil quickens.
Benchmark Brent oil futures rose by $1.13 per barrel, or 1.4 per cent, to $79.20 per barrel by 0915 GMT, following a 1.2-per cent climb on Monday. US light crude futures were up 53 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at $74.38.
Mounting supply concerns could push Brent above $85 per barrel, MUFG Bank said in a note.
“Renewed geopolitical supplyside disruptions stemming from Canada, Iran, Libya, Venezuela and the US raises the likelihood of oil trade interruptions and with it upside risks to oil prices in the near term,” MUFG said.
Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, leading to the shutdown of one Shell-operat- ed oilfield. That potentially adds to disruptions in other oil producers amid tensions in the Middle East.
Libya’s national oil production fell to 527,000 barrels per day from a high of 1.28 million bpd in February following recent oil port closures, the National Oil Corp said on Monday.
The United States says it wants to reduce oil exports from Iran, the world’s fifth-biggest producer, to zero by November, which would oblige other big producers to pump more. Saudi Arabia, fellow members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
The bottom line becomes the available spare capacity within Opec ... and the markets have started to focus on that Victor Shum, vice-president, energy, IHS Market
allies including Russia agreed last month to increase output to dampen price gains and offset global production losses in countries including Libya.
The market has grown concerned that if the Saudis offset the losses from Iran, that will use up global spare capacity and leave markets more vulnerable to further or unexpected production declines.
“The bottom line becomes the available spare capacity within Opec ... and the markets have started to focus on that,” said Victor Shum, vice-president for energy at IHS Market in Singapore.
Money managers raised their bullish bets on US crude in the week to July 3, the US Commodity Trading Commission said on Monday.