Commodity Daily News

Crude Oil Trades at 30-Month High

Crude oil jumped to a 2-1/2 year high above $108 a barrel on Tuesday, as conflict and unrest in Africa and the Middle East more than offset China's latest interest rate hike. There's also an expectation that an improving global economy will increase demand for oil.

The stalemate in Libya has fueled fears of a prolonged loss of its oil exports even as a tanker arrived at an oil terminal in the east of the country to load the first cargo of crude oil to be sold by the anti-Gadaffi rebels.

Crude oil prices have surged more than 20% since mid-February, when pro-democracy movements reached Libya, Africa's third-largest oil producer.

As for today, traders are advised to follow all the developments from Libya as the conflict there is now the main catalyst in crude trading. In case the conflict escalates, oil prices might climb even further.