Oil Sets New 2015 Record After Libyan Output Slows

Oil prices jumped more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday, pushing North Sea Brent and U.S. light crude to 2015 highs, after protests stopped crude flows to the eastern Libyan oil port of Zueitina, hampering exports.

Oil was also supported by news that Saudi Arabia had raised its official selling prices for its Arab Light grade crude to the United States and Northwest Europe, pointing to strong demand in those regions.

Brent crude oil climbed to a high of $68.23 a barrel, up $1.78 and its highest since Dec. 8, before easing back slightly to around $67.77 by 10:08 a.m. EDT (1408 GMT).

U.S. crude oil jumped $1.85 to a high of $60.78 a barrel, also its highest since December. The contract last traded at $60.35, up $1.42.

“Higher OSPs for Europe and the United States seem to point to healthy demand for Saudi oil,” Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, told Reuters Global Oil Forum.

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