Oil Price Rises as Iraq Fighting Continues

Surging U.S. oil production was expected to drive oil prices lower this year, but a confluence of geopolitical events—particularly a Sunni militant uprising in Iraq—could now drive already high prices even higher and keep them there.

The situation in Iraq has become increasingly tense and violent with Al Qaeda-linked groups seizing control of two key cities, Mosul and Tikrit, in the past two days. The group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, so far has targeted a northern pipeline—the Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline, but the activity has so far not spread to other energy infrastructure.

“On balance, what’s happening at the moment seems, at least so far, some ways removed from the major producing regions of Iraq,” said Citigroup analyst Eric Lee.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza