Kuwait crude price goes up 12 cents to $102.52

The Price of Kuwaiti crude oil was up 12 cents on Tuesday to USD 102.52 per barrel (pb) compared to USD 102.40 pb the day before, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said. The US crude price closed at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) at an average of USD 101.64 pb, while the price of Brent crude oil jumped to USD 105. 81 per barrel. Two events propelled the price of oil in New York above USD 100 a barrel for the first time since the middle of September: unrest in Egypt, and a big drop in US oil supplies. Traders were worried that political upheaval in Egypt could slow the flow of oil from the Middle East to world markets. Egypt is not an oil producer but its control of one of the world's busiest shipping lanes gives it a crucial role in maintaining global energy supplies. The Middle East accounts for about a quarter of the world's crude oil output, or 23 million barrels per day. About 2 million barrels of that, or 2.2 percent of world demand, are transported daily through the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. Much of that oil is headed to Europe, but a supply drop anywhere in the world leads to higher prices everywhere.