Oil futures resume rally, Brent hits $68/b on Libyan force majeure

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Crude oil futures continued the upwards trend from last week hitting fresh 5-week highs in London Tuesday afternoon.

A force majeure declared at the Libyan port of Haringa, potentially removing 180,000 b/d of crude from the market, underpinned prices.

Brent futures for June crude reached a high of $68.08/b, over $1/b up on the day, before being pulled back by concerns over the rising number of coronavirus cases, particularly in Asia.

At 1440 in London (1340 GMT) Brent was trading at $67.42/b, versus Monday's settle of $67.05/b.

At the same time, May WTI was trading $0.17/b higher on the day at $63.49/b.

Libya's state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) declared Monday a force majeure in the port of Hariga, one of the largest oil ports in the country. NOC said the force majeure was declared as a result of the Central Bank of Libya's refusal to liquidate the oil budget for months.