WSJ:Crude Futures Rise 1% After Three Soldiers Killed in Egypt Attack
By Jenny Gross
LONDON--Crude oil rose more than 1%, following two sessions of losses, after twin blasts in Egypt's Sinai peninsula killed at least three soldiers.
Egypt is home to one of the world's most important oil-transit points, through which about 7% of all seaborne traded oil passes. The attacks have heightened fears about supply disruptions or a spillover of tensions into other parts of the oil-rich Middle East.
In the Sinai attack, twin blasts targeting Egypt's army killed at least three soldiers in the restive peninsula, where the military is battling an insurgency, Agence France-Presse reported security officials as saying.
The October Brent on London's ICE futures exchange rose $1.01, or 0.9%, to be at $112.26 a barrel. Earlier, the contract rose to $112.49. The October contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 37 cents, or 0.3%, at $107.76 a barrel.
In recent weeks, oil prices had risen sharply on a tumble in Libyan oil production to depths not seen since a civil war toppled the Gadhafi regime in 2011, combined with fears of a possible U.S.-led military strike against Syria.
Turmoil in Libya showed no signs of abating and production has fallen to 150,000 barrels a day, 10% of normal production.
Oil prices slipped earlier this week as concerns about international intervention in Syria abated. U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday, in a televised address, asked Congress to postpone a vote on a resolution to authorize military force in Syria.
Goldman Sachs said in a note published Wednesday that global oil market fundamentals remained tight, and that this week's sell-off in oil prices was overdone. It said it expected pressure on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' spare capacity to peak in September and October.
Traders will look to a report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, due later Wednesday, for information on oil inventory levels.
The ICE's gasoil contract for September delivery was up $7.00, or 0.8%, at $946.50 a metric ton, while Nymex gasoline for October delivery was up 129 points, or 0.5%, at $2.7486 a gallon.
