As a strike in Iraq and violent storms off the United States put pressure on world supplies, oil prices seem poised to rise again this week. Though prices have fallen after they spurred from US$62 to about $US58.09 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Friday, they are likely to climb due to the unrest in Iraq and concerns about the impact of Emily.
Almost 1.5 million barrels of oil flow through Iraq's southern terminals was affected by a 24 hour strike of 15000 employees. Mexican state oil monopoly Pemex that supplies oil to the US shut 63 wells resulting in the hold back of about 480,000 bpd of crude oil, as a result of bringing about 15,000 workers to shore as Hurricane Emily roared towards the Mexican coast. Emily is contemplated to strengthening on the southern track moving from the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun, Mexico and then into the western Gulf of Mexico towards the Texan border. Also storms in the western Gulf are posing to be a risk to almost 2.5 million barrels of oil produced from Mexico's offshore fields, as they may be able to halt tanker traffic from the region.
Companies such as Kerr-McGee Corporation and Shell Oil are known to have evacuated non-essential workers from offshore oil and natural gas production areas that may be affected by Hurricane Emily as a precautionary measure. However the companies have not halted production. BP is also considered to have taken precautionary measures to make its about US$1 billion Thunder Horse oil and gas platform storm safe for Hurricane Emily and is slated to re-start producing oil and gas later in the year boosting production by about 250,000 barrels of oil per day.
18-Jul-05 
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