Crude oil future rise amid supply disruptions in Libya, Iraq

At 10:58 am Singapore time (0258 GMT), front-month March ICE Brent crude futures rose 67 cents/b (1.03%) from Friday's settle at $65.52/b, while the NYMEX February light sweet crude contract rose 55 cents/b (0.94%) at $59.09/b.

Libya's oil production from key southern fields that produce close to 400,000 b/d has been curtailed by the Libyan National Army, Platts reported previously.

This threatened exports from the country's main terminal a day after its national oil company declared force majeure due to a blockade on two-thirds of its output.

"Oil prices pushed higher on Monday following supply disruptions amid political disquiet in Libya and Iraq," Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader, said.

Apart from disruptions at Libya, Iraq had also temporarily halted work on an oil field Sunday, according to media reports.

Iraq remains in focus after the International Energy Agency said last week that Iraq is a vulnerable oil supplier.

"Recent events have shown that Iraq is a potentially vulnerable supplier, just as its strategic importance has grown," the Paris-based agency had said in its monthly report earlier.

Security concerns in Iraq lingered after the US killing of top Iranian commander in Baghdad earlier this month.

"Still, prices are likely to remain capped, given the market's reactive nature to fade geopolitical risk quickly," Innes added.

ANZ analysts said Monday: "The market continues to view US shale oil, high inventories in Asia and spare OPEC capacity mitigating any supply disruptions."