Oil prices down in Asia

Crude prices slipped in Asia Wednesday

By (AFP)

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Published: Wed 4 Jul 2012, 3:51 PM

Last updated: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 11:57 AM

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August fell 55 cents to $87.11 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for August delivery shed 61 cents to $100.07.

Crude traders were reaping a quick profit after a price surge of more than $3.00 in late New York trade Tuesday, said Justin Harper, market strategist for IG Markets Singapore.

“It could be about profit-taking because it has caught many by surprise, people weren’t expecting (prices) to rise the way it has done. Some people are probably taking some profit out of the market,” he told AFP.

Crude would also likely continue rising in the near term as Iran expressed outrage over a European Union-imposed oil embargo on Tehran, Harper said.

Meanwhile, some 120 lawmakers in Iran’s 290-seat parliament backed a draft bill calling for the strategic Strait of Hormuz to be closed to oil tankers headed to Europe in retaliation for the EU embargo.


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