By V. Phani Kumar and Clare Hutchison, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures gained further ground Friday, a day after setting nine-month closing highs amid ongoing worries over Iran.
“We think crude oil has largely become a one-issue market. Either Iranian production is curtailed and prices spike further, or the oil continues to flow and prices collapse,” said Tim Evans, energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective, in a note to clients.
Light, sweet crude-oil futures for delivery in April CLJ2 +0.62% rose 43 cents, or 0.4%, to $108.71 a barrel on Friday. Prices came off a little after reaching as high as $109.09 a barrel in early trading.
Crude-oil futures jumped $1.55 a barrel in regular trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.
The front-month contract is now up more than 10% so far in February, with about half of those gains coming just this week.
The spike has come amid fears that Iran might stop oil exports to some European nations, after the European Union last month said it would ban purchases from the Middle-Eastern oil producer.
An official at the International Monetary Fund said Thursday that a halt of Iran’s oil exports to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries could trigger a 20% to 30% jump in prices. Read full report on the IMF official’s comments.
The price increase has also triggered deeper worries about the impact on global economic growth.
“Sanctions and embargoes enacted to date may be having an impact on Iran’s economy in other areas, but it looks as though oil revenues are up along with prices. So far, oil speculators and oil producers are benefiting from the policy, while oil consumers are paying the price,” said Evans.
Among other energy products, the April futures contract for gasoline RBJ2 +0.14% rose 0.1% to $3.29 a gallon.
March natural gas futures NGH12 -0.99% , meanwhile, slipped 1.1% to $2.59 per million British thermal units and heating oil HOJ2 -0.21% for the same period was down 0.3% at $3.28 a gallon.
