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Journalism of Courage
World oil prices fell again on Tuesday as Iraq restored oil exports and hedge funds continued the rush to take profits from record highs.
US light crude shed 21 cents to $42.06 a barrel, after a 90-cent drop on Monday, taking losses to more than $7 from recent peaks. London brent crude, closed on Monday, was down $1.07 at $39.57 a barrel. ‘‘Funds are being forced out but many of them still have deep long positions,’’ said brokers Exports of southern Iraqi Basra crude ran near full capacity at 1.7 million barrels a day after repairs following sabotage attacks and the first shipment for three months of northern Iraqi Kirkuk crude was loading at Turkey’s export terminal Ceyhan. An Iraqi official said Baghdad aimed to sell up to 300,000 barrels per day of Kirkuk crude via term contract deals. That was read as a sign Iraq is having some success in thwarting attacks that have all but idled exports from its northern pipeline since the US-led war began in March last year.
A number of European refiners are following the lead of Turkey’s Tupras, the first company to seal a post-war term contract for Kirkuk oil. Despite the price drop, crude is still nearly 30 per cent higher than at the start of the year as producers pump close to full tilt to meet the fastest world demand growth in 24 years. OPEC President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Monday the group which controls more than half of world exports aimed to increase spare output capacity by about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in the next few months in help bolster stretched supplies. —(Reuters)
