 Brent crude rose to $110 a barrel on Monday on renewed concerns over Libya’s oil output and following some of the worst violence in Tripoli since the 2011 war against Muammar Gaddafi.
Heavily armed gunmen stormed Libya’s parliament on Sunday and demanded its suspension, claiming loyalty to a renegade army general and deepening the chaos in the OPEC oil producer.
“This is the worst outbreak of militia-related violence for a while and a reversal of the relatively positive sentiment that we had from Libya earlier in the month,” said Mark Keenan, who heads commodities research in Asia at Societe Generale.
“It’s very likely that Libya is going to retain a strong geopolitical risk premium in oilmarkets going forward,” Keenan said.
Brent July crude gained 23 cents to $109.98 a barrel by 0358 GMT, after earlier touching an intraday high of $110.03. Front-month Brent ended last week nearly 2 percent higher.
