Cyclone Gonu Misses Rigs
Latest Update 11 am Gulf Time Sunday
By Eduard Gismatullin
June 7 (Bloomberg)
Crude oil traded below $66 a barrel in New York as Tropical Cyclone Gonu missed oil rigs and fields in the Middle East, causing only some disruption to shipping.
Gonu battered southern Iran early today after hitting the eastern coast of Oman yesterday, closing all its seaports and oil- export terminals two days ago and causing the country to suspended oil and gas exports. Ships continued to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between Iran and Oman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Associated Press reported.
``We think that bulls will find it difficult to make much of a case centering around the fading Persian Gulf cyclone,'' Edward Meir, an analyst at Man Financial in Darien, Connecticut, wrote in a report. Gonu ``did not hit any key oil installations.''
Crude oil for July delivery was down 1 cent at $65.95 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:08 a.m. in London.
Gonu's center was 88 kilometers (55 miles) south of the town of Jask on the southern coast of Iran at 3:30 a.m. Omani time today, according to the latest U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center advisory. Gonu's winds fell to 83 kilometers per hour as the storm moved north-northwest across the Gulf of Oman at 13 kilometers per hour.
Prices rose yesterday following reports that Turkish troops chased Kurdish guerrillas into northern Iraq. Government officials from Turkey and the U.S. denied any attack occurred.
Iraq has the world's third-biggest proved oil reserves, according to BP Plc. Turkey has threatened to launch a military operation unless U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq eradicate the threat posed by the Kurdistan Workers' Party. The Turkish military has deployed tens of thousands of troops near the border to stop members of the group from entering Turkey.
``Neither do we think the Turkish incursions will morph into a wider conflagration,'' Meir wrote. The Turkish parliament ``will have to sanction any sustained military operation.''
In London, Brent crude oil for July settlement fell 13 cents to $70.89 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange at 9:10 a.m. in London.