What's Moving the Oil Markets?

What's Moving the Oil Markets?

•-IPE Brent futures neared all-time highs on Monday as BP announced late Sun that it was shutting down the Prudhoe Bay oil field on the North Slope of Alaska due to "unexpectedly severe" pipeline corrosion, traders said. "Markets are up mainly on the BP oil field shutdown but obviously there's still the conflict in the Middle East keeping prices propped up," a broker said.

•Four expatriate workers were kidnapped last week in two separate incidents in Rivers State, southern Nigeria. However Nigerian police officials Monday said they were making headway in the search for the four oil workers -- a German working for Overseas Technical Services and three Filipinos kidnapped while on their way to work at the NLNG plant on Bonny Island -- held hostage in the troubled Niger Delta. Market traders noted that the continuing kidnappings and shut-in production have provided further support to crude prices.

•Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Sunday that his country will not suspend uranium enrichment despite a UN resolution calling for a freeze of the sensitive nuclear work, AFP reported. "Larijani's comments have definitely added a few points to crude this morning," a broker said.

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