Forexpros – Crude oil futures rose to a two-day high on Tuesday, as concerns over a disruption to global oil supplies supported prices as investors turned to a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and International Monetary Fund President Christine Lagarde later in the day.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February traded at USD102.56 a barrel during European morning trade, rallying 1.25%.
It earlier rose by as much as 1.35% to trade at a two-day high of USD102.66 a barrel.
Markets were looking forward to a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and IMF Chief Christine Lagarde later Tuesday in order to discuss Greece’s bailout package.
The meeting comes a day after Merkel met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin, renewing optimism European leaders will increase efforts to resolve the region’s ongoing debt crisis.
In a press conference following the talks, Merkel warned Greece that it would not be possible to give further financial aid without swift progress on its second rescue package, including a voluntary write-down on Greek debt held by private creditors.
Merkel also said she was optimistic that the European Union will be able to sign off its fiscal pact by the end of January.
Meanwhile, oil traders continued to monitor tensions between Iran and the U.S. after the Islamic Republic confirmed on Monday it had started uranium enrichment at the Fordow bunker near the city of Qom, which the U.S. state department called a ‘further escalation’ of violations of U.N. resolutions.
Reports that the United Arab Emirates would delay the launch of a key oil pipeline that bypasses Hormuz to mid-2012 also fuelled concerns about oil supply from the Gulf.
Oil prices have been well-supported in recent weeks on fears that Iran may make good on threats to cut off access to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passageway that connects the oil-rich Persian Gulf nations with the rest of the world.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for February delivery rose 0.58% to trade at USD113.10 a barrel, with the spread between the Brent and crude contracts standing at USD10.54 a barrel.
Brent’s premium to crude has risen in eight of the past nine days as Nigerian production outages and strikes threaten to reduce supplies of light, sweet crude from the oil-rich country.
Nigeria produces approximately 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, making it Africa’s largest oil producer, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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