Oil highest since 2014 as Turkey outage adds to tight supply

Oil highest since 2014 as Turkey outage adds to tight supply

Oil prices rose for a fourth day on Wednesday after a fire on a pipeline from Iraq to Turkey briefly stopped flows, increasing concerns about an already tight short term supply outlook. Brent crude futures rose 48 cents, or 0.6%, to $87.99 a barrel at 1245 GMT, adding to a 1.2% jump in the previous session. The benchmark contract touched $89.05, its highest since Oct. 13, 2014. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 66 cents, or 0.8%, to $86.09 a barrel. WTI earlier jumped to $87.08, its highest since Oct. 9, 2014. The explosion that set off the fire on the pipeline in the southeastern Turkish province of Kahramanmaras was caused by a falling power pylon, not an attack, a senior security source said. The pipeline carries crude out of Iraq, the second-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export. Analysts are forecasting tight oil supply in 2022, driven in part by demand holding up despite the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, with some predicting $100 a barrel. Security concerns involving Russia, the world’s second-largest oil producer, and the UAE, OPEC’s third-largest producer, are adding to