SINGAPORE - World oil prices tumbled in Asian trade Friday as traders cashed in gains from a recent rally, analysts said.
New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light sweet
crude for delivery in September, was down 37 cents to $95.23 a barrel
and Brent North Sea crude for October delivery sank 67 cents to $114.60.
Prices rallied in New York following encouraging jobs and housing
figures in top crude consumer the United States, with WTI hitting fresh
three-month highs.
The black gold was finding support, however, on news of a cyber
attack against Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco as well as rising
geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
"Saudi Aramco has said that its computer systems have been hit by a virus," British bank Barclays said in a market commentary.
The Saudi oil giant has said the attack has not affected production.
However, Barclays added that in a market that is starting to
focus more on geopolitical issues in the Middle East, the idea that
there may be parties intending to sabotage oil operations is likely to
be unsettling.
It said "any attack against facilities that did cause any
significant physical disruption of Saudi flows would open up the extreme
upside for oil, in the context of the current deterioration of the
geopolitical context for the Middle East as a whole".
The cyber attack on Saudi Arabia comes as fighting continues in
Syria between rebel forces and the government of Bashar al-Assad, while
Iran remains in a standoff with Western powers over its controversial
nuclear programme.
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