New tensions send crude oil prices higher

Crude oil prices were higher on Thursday. Brent crude for July delivery added 56 cents to $71.58 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange, while July contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.10 to $67.06 per barrel. The gains came after North Korea conducted a missile test and after a report that Turkey sent troops into northern Iraq in a raid against Kurdish rebels. Turkey denied the report.

In supply news, the president of OPEC again insisted that prices are up because of higher demand in the United States and worries about political tensions around the world and not because lowered OPEC production quotas have left supplies short. In addition, Cyclone Gonu disrupted oil exports from a port in Oman for the third day in a row, and oil workers in Brazil are threatening a strike.

In mid-afternoon trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, July gasoline was trading even at $2.19 per gallon after going as high as $2.23 earlier. Heating oil was also even at $1.98 per gallon, while natural gas had dropped 26 cents to $7.83 per million British thermal units. The latest US inventories numbers showed that stockpiles of natural gas were up by 110 billion cubic feet last week.