Oil Climbs 2% in Asia Amid Supply Disruption Fears
Oil benchmarks
on both sides of Atlantic reversed losses seen earlier this week and
rebounded higher, now extending gains into a second day today on the
back of rising concerns supply disruptions from Canada and Libya.
Oil ignores rising US crude supplies
Currently,
both crude benchmarks are seen rallying, with WTI up +2.17% at $ 44.74
while Brent oil rises +1.80% to trade at $ 45.37. Oil prices jolted
higher this session as markets fretted over oil production following
news that a huge wildfire in Canada disrupted its oil sands production.
Adding
to the supply concerns, escalating geo-political tensions surrounding
Libya threatened the North African nation's output. As Reuters reports,
“Libya's already crippled oil production is at risk of further decline
from a stand-off between rival eastern and western political factions,
which prevented a cargo belonging to trading giant Glencore from
loading.”
Amid supply disruption worries, markets largely ignored
another build in the US crude reserves, as reflected by the EIA weekly
inventory report. US crude stockpiles grew by 2.8 million barrels last
week, a much bigger build than markets expected.
Looking ahead,
focus now remains on the crucial US NFP data and oil rigs count data due
tomorrow for further cues on the black gold. While markets will
continue to monitor the developments surrounding Libya and Canada.
