Reply #15: Crude Oil Futures Rebound After Attack Slows South Iraq Exports [View All]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=afHUx_gLzx.A&refer=top_world_news

June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures pared earlier losses in London and rallied in New York after Iraq's southern oil exports were reduced following an explosion last night on a pipeline that feeds crude oil to the Basra Oil Terminal.

Pumping to the Basra terminal in the Persian Gulf, Iraq's largest export outlet, has slowed by about 60 percent to 30,000 barrels an hour, Mouyd Hashem, harbor master at the terminal, told Bloomberg. Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves, after Saudi Arabia.

The attack ``supports all these fears that people have about terrorist activity affecting supplies,'' said Kirsty Ager, an analyst at Energy Information Centre, a consulting firm in Newmarket, England. ``If terrorists can affect Iraqi production, they might have a go at Saudi Arabia.''

Brent crude for July settlement was down 4 cents at $35.45 a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange at 1:19 p.m., after falling as low as $34.73 earlier.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for July delivery was up 21 cents at $37.80 a barrel in electronic trading at 8:24 a.m. New York time. It has traded between $37.05 and $38.08 so far this session.

Sabotage to oil pipelines has repeatedly halted exports from northern Iraq, and less frequently from the country's southern fields. Attacks on foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, raised concern Saudi supplies also may be curbed.

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