Traders eye $100 per barrel amid rising crude prices

Oil prices rose more than two per cent yesterday, as the United States (U.S.) sanctions restricted Iranian crude exports and tightened global supply. Already, some traders are forecasting a spike in crude to as much as $100 per barrel.

Brent peaked at $80.62 per barrel since May, up by $1.82 or 2.3 per cent while the U.S. light crude sold for $72.13, $1.35 higher.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are at their lowest since early 2015 though production is near a record high of 11 million barrels per day (bpd) but subdued drilling activities point towards a slowdown in output.

Also yesterday, workers of Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) marched to the Lagos office of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) urging it to intervene in the dispute between their company and the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL).

The rift had resulted in the shutdown of Samsung’s fabrication yard at the LADOL free zone for over three weeks.

The workers said they were seeking the intervention of the oil and gas regulator in the legal face-off between LADOL and SHI MCI FZE.

Leader of the protesters and the firm’s Assistant Manager, General Affairs Department, Samuel Samidotun, called on DPR management to save their jobs.