Oil price up after U.S. attacks<\/p>\n
Reuters, London<\/p>\n
Oil prices moved modestly higher on Monday as the United
\nStates and Britain launched retaliatory strikes on Afghanistan.
\nLondon Brent blend crude added 22 cents to US$21.85 a barrel and
\nU.S. light crude slipped eight cents to $22.47.<\/p>\n
Dealers said the market reaction was muted because the allied
\nstrikes avenging the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States did
\nnot threaten Middle East oil supplies.<\/p>\n
Oil exports from key Middle East suppliers including Saudi,
\nArabia, Iran and Iraq were flowing normally to world markets,
\nindustry sources said.<\/p>\n
\"Business is carrying on as normal,\" a shipping official in
\nthe region said. \"I don't see why there should be an effect on
\noperations here.\"<\/p>\n
An Iraqi oil source said liftings of Basrah Light crude from
\nthe Gulf terminal of Mina al-Bakr were in fact running at high
\nlevels again, having dipped recently due largely to steep war-
\nrisk insurance.<\/p>\n
And throughout the Gulf on Monday, it was business as usual.<\/p>\n
\"Our operations are running smoothly,\" said an Iranian oil
\nsource. \"There is absolutely no disruption to our exports and we
\nbelieve the situation is the same throughout the region.\"<\/p>\n
Oil markets have been on tenterhooks since the suicide attacks
\non New York and Washington, awaiting a military response from the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
World prices rallied to $29 a barrel on Sept. 11 but since
\nhave slumped more than 20 percent because of flagging petroleum
\ndemand in the face of a world economic downturn.<\/p>\n
Analysts are still worried that the allied action might spread
\nto the Middle East.<\/p>\n
\"It's pretty much impossible to have a war without some
\npremium on the price of oil,\" said Sarah Emerson of Energy
\nSecurity Analysis in Boston.<\/p>\n
Iran, the second biggest OPEC producer after Saudi Arabia,
\nsaid the U.S.-led military strikes on neighboring Afghanistan
\nwere \"unacceptable\".<\/p>\n
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, who has been under U.N.
\nsanctions since Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, said the
\nattacks would destabilize the world and might expand to include
\nother countries.<\/p>\n
OPEC wants to keep oil around $25 a barrel for a reference
\nbasket of seven crudes. The basket stood at $20.09 on Friday, the
\ntenth consecutive day it has languished below a $22-$28 range
\nused by OPEC to determined increases or decreases in its
\nsupplies.<\/p>",
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