New York, April 01: Crude oil prices Thursday settled near $107 a barrel after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s troops recaptured the oil producing towns of Ras Lanuf and Brega from the rebels in eastern Libya.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery surged by $2.45, or 2. 35 percent to settle at $106.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest close since September 2008.
In London, Brent crude for May delivery also traded sharply higher around $117 a barrel.
Libya’s oil exports of 1.6 billion barrels per day, which account for two percent of world crude supply, were stopped after anti-government protests broke out in mid-February.
The unrest in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain have also pressured the markets and pushed oil prices higher, Xinhua reported.
–IANS–