Turkey's Threats Send Oil to Record High Near $88

Many fear disruption of Kurdish pipelines
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 16, 2007 8:32 AM CDT
Turkey's Threats Send Oil to Record High Near $88
Gas station attendant Toke Fusi puts up higher gas prices for self service at Menlo-Atherton Shell gas station in Menlo Park, Calif., Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2007. The right side is full service gas prices.    (Associated Press)

Crude oil hit yet another record today, trading near $88 a barrel over fears that a looming Turkish attack on Northern Iraq would disrupt pipelines in the world’s third-largest oil producer. Turkey’s PM said he expected parliament to approve an incursion to root out PKK militants in the Kurdish region, through which Iraq ships most of its crude.

A Sept. 18 attack on the pipeline dropped Iraq’s production last month by 100,000 barrels per day. “It's a strong geopolitical concern,” an analyst told Bloomberg. “The market is pricing in some disruption.” Oil is already up $3 this week, a necessary price hike, OPEC says, given the dollar’s decline. OPEC sells in dollars, but buys many goods in euros. (More Turkey stories.)

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