Ice Brent crude futures rose to new highs near $88/bl today as the US-Iran conflict continued and Qatar's energy minister reportedly warned of prolonged production shutdowns and the risk of further sharp price increases.
The front-month Brent crude futures contract on Ice rose as high as $87.66/bl, up by 2.6pc from yesterday's close.
Futures had earlier fallen to a session low of $83.16/bl, but recovered ground and then jumped by around 2pc after the Financial Times (FT) quoted Qatari energy minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi as warning that it could take "weeks or months" for the country's LNG deliveries to return to normal, even if the war ended immediately.
Qatar's 77mn t/yr Ras Laffan LNG facility, the world's largest, was forced to halt production on 2 March after a drone attack.
All Mideast Gulf exporters are likely to declare force majeure within days, while oil prices could surge to $150/bl in 2-3 weeks if the strait of Hormuz remains blocked, and gas prices could hit $40/mn Btu, al-Kaabi was quoted as saying.
Qatar will not restart production until there is a complete end to hostilities, he said, according to the FT.
