Islamabad
Crude oil prices edged up on Tuesday after production from Libya fell below one million barrels per day for the first time in several months.
At 1325 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, was trading at $67.51 a barrel after gaining 0.69 percent. Likewise, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 0.43 percent to reach $63.65 a barrel.
The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $65.21 a barrel with 1.13 percent increase, Arab Light was available at $67.04 a barrel with 1.31 percent increase while price of Russian Sokol increased 1.28 percent to reach $67.33 a barrel.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation declared a force majeure on exports from Hariga Port in the east. It said the closure was due to the central bank’s refusal to release the budget needed for the oil sector “for long months”.
Libyan production rose to 1.19 million bpd in March, about 10 times higher than the 121,000 bpd it produced in the third quarter of last year.—TLTP
