Oil Prices Continue Higher as Iraq Violence Rages On

Tuesday,   17-Oct-2017   03:43 PM (IST)

Oil prices continued higher for the third straight day following reports that Iraqi forces took control of oil fields in Kirkuk.The fighting follows a referendum in which the Kurds, who run their own semiautonomous region in northern Iraq, voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence last month, defying Baghdad, regional powers and the U.S.Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., added 0.6% to $58.15 a barrel. It rose 1.2% to its best level since Sept. 28 at $58.47 on Monday.Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 0.5% to $52.13 a barrel, after reaching a three-week high of $52.37 in the last session.Investors looked ahead to weekly data on stockpiles of crude and refined products from the American Petroleum Institute at 4:30PM ET (2030GMT) to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.