Once Seen As Elusive, $70 Crude Looks Increasingly Likely

Crude oil futures have their eye on the $70 mark again.

Benchmark futures in New York set a fresh nine and half month high of more than $69 a barrel Tuesday but fell back after failing to take out the psychologically significant $70.00 a barrel mark. But a breach, which has proved elusive all year, now looks increasingly within reach, as traders face fresh supply worries, from tight gasoline supplies at the start of the U.S. summer peak driving season to renewed violence in oil-rich Nigeria.


The latest supply threat comes from Africa’s largest oil producer, where more than 20% of the country’s daily production remains hampered by militant attacks and where workers are threatening to strike. Brazil, a minor oil exporter, is facing an oil worker strike of its own.

“At this point, a festive breeze could get us to $70.00,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup in New York, noting that liquidity in the nearby crude contract has all but dried up ahead of expiration on Wednesday.

Dow Jones