World oil prices rose on Monday as deadly Hurricane Emily continued to threaten oil platforms and refineries in the United States Gulf of Mexico, while a strike by Iraqi workers added to market jitters, dealers said.
Emily caused two deaths on Sunday when violent winds slammed a helicopter trying to evacuate an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico, killing the pilot and co-pilot, Mexico’s state oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos said. It added that 15 530 workers were evacuated from its facilities in the region.
New York’s main contract on Monday, light sweet crude for delivery in August, jumped 82 cents to $58,91 per barrel in electronic dealing.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in September increased by 40 cents to $58,01 per barrel. The August contract, which expired last Thursday, closed at $57,31.
Hurricane Emily lashed Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and its popular beach resorts early on Monday with 215kph winds and drenching rains, forecasters said.
”The market is reacting to the nasty weather in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with US energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz, referring to Hurricane Emily.
”Emily is still the concern for the market … The storm season is the overriding concern for the market.”
Emily is the second major storm to hit the region in two weeks following Hurricane Dennis, which left at least 62 dead, mostly in Haiti.
Reports of a labour strike by Iraqi oil workers also helped push prices higher.
Iraqi oil exports were suspended for four hours on Sunday because of a strike by 15 000 employees of the state-owned South Oil Company, a company official said. The employees are demanding a better share of oil-export revenues from the government.
Iraqi oil ministry spokesperson Assem Jihad confirmed that there had been a strike, but denied that production or exports were affected.
Nearly all of Iraq’s daily output of 2,1-million barrels in June came from southern oilfields, while all of the 1,43-million barrels a day of exports flowed through southern terminals, according to Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum.
”Any news of supply disruption will certainly add to the concerns about the storm in the Atlantic,” Shum added. — Sapa-AFP