Shan’s Blog

Oil prices on Monday traded above USD 61 a barrel in Asian trade, the highest level of the year in a market focussed on renewed geopolitical tensions.

At 2:55 pm (0655 GMT) New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, advanced 31 cents to USD 61.45 a barrel from USD 61.14 in late US trades on Friday.

The contract had not traded as high since it breached USD 62 in late December.

Brent North Sea crude for April delivery climbed 31 cents to USD 61.19 a barrel.

“I think that geopolitical factors are coming back that we have not really seen since late October last year. There’s more signs of geopolitical tensions with Iran not meeting the deadline for the UN resolution. These have helped push prices up,” said CFC Seymour analyst Steve Rowles in Hongkong.

Senior officials from six key world powers grappling to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions were to meet in London on Monday, seeking accord on what to do next after Tehran’s latest snub to its critics.

Iran ignored a UN deadline on Wednesday to halt nuclear reprocessing efforts, which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defended as vital to his country’s progress.

The International Atomic Energy Agency also declared in a report on Thursday that Iran, one of the world’s biggest producers of crude, had failed to suspend uranium fuel enrichment as demanded by the United Nations.

There was also fresh unrest in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer of crude, where Nigerian armed militants on Friday stepped up violent attacks on foreigners.

 They killed a Lebanese man, while two Italians were kidnapped in the oil-rich Niger delta, police and industry sources said.