Crude oil prices on rise despite economic impact

Supply concerns brought on by power outages in Iraq, bad weather in the North Sea, and civil unrest in Ecuador were instrumental in another rise in crude oil prices on Monday.

And on top of all that, the International Petroleum Exchange had to halt trading for five hours due to a computer glitch in Atlanta.

With trading resumed, Brent crude ended the day up 14 cents to $64.50 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed 10 cents higher at $65.45.

A power cut in Basra, Iraq, made it necessary to stop shipments of 1.5 million barrels of crude from that southern Iraqi port. In the North Sea, bad weather forced Royal Dutch Shell to evacuate its Brent Bravo drilling platforms for the second time this month, halting production on 10,000 barrels of oil per day.

Meanwhile in Ecuador, where civil unrest caused production on 200,000 barrels per day last Thursday, production had begun again by Monday, but at a reduced rate of around 54,000 barrels per day.

Weather concerns were also beginning again for oil production facilities in and around the Gulf of Mexico as another low-pressure system began to become more defined, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

All of these conditions led analysts to expect more crude oil prices rises, despite growing indications that the rising prices were beginning to impact the global economy.