The oil prices They rose on Monday after activity halted at two key production sites in Libya, in a market already on the upside.
The price of a barrel North Sea Brent for delivery in June thus gained 1.30% in London to end at 113.16 dollars, a maximum since the end of March at the close.
Meanwhile, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May, touched 110 dollars to end up gaining 1.17% to 108.21 dollars.
“The immediate concern is the loss of 500,000 to 800,000 barrels of Libyan crude,” said Robert Yawger, head of futures contracts at Mizuho Securities. “We can’t afford to lose a single barrel right now,” he noted.
The Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) announced on Saturday the closure of the Zuwetina (northeast) terminal due to internal political problems.
And in the southwest, an armed group has halted operations at the al-Charara field, which produces about a quarter of Libya’s volume of black gold.
Fields and terminals are frequently forced to close by armed groups that use this mechanism as an instrument of political pressure.
This interruption of Libyan exports occurs while the European Union is discussing a total embargo on its purchases of russian oil.
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