TURKEY TENSIONS LIFT OIL PRICES

BBC News, UK
Oct 15 2007

Oil traders fear that exports from northern Iraq could be hit Global
oil prices have surged to fresh highs after increased tensions
between Turkey and Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq and concerns
over production.

US light, sweet crude was trading at $85.85, having touched $86 for
the first time, while Brent rose $1.96 to a record $82.51.

Analysts said the rises followed reports that Turkish forces had
shelled an Iraqi border village overnight.

And an Opec report said that non-member nations were set to cut
production.

About 110,000 fewer barrels of oil would be produced each day by
those who weren’t part of the cartel, Opec said in a report.

Last month Opec said that it would be boosting its production by
500,000 barrels per day from the beginning of next month to cope
with demand.

‘Perceived risk’

The Turkish government is now preparing a motion seeking parliamentary
approval for a military incursion into northern Iraq after 13 Turkish
soldiers were killed close to the Iraqi border.

Ankara estimates that 3,500 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (KWP) rebels
are based across the border in Iraq.

The KWP wants to see the establishment of an independent Kurdish
homeland, incorporating territory in eastern Turkey and northern Iraq.

Oil analyst Robert Montefusco at the Sucden brokerage in London said
traders were closely monitoring the situation.

"There’s no lost production at the moment, so it’s only perceived that
we could lose some production if any of the pipelines are affected
in that region from Iraq," he said.

"That is the main concern at the moment."

The US has urged the Turkish government to show restraint.

However, relations between Washington and Ankara are currently strained
after a recent US congressional vote branding the mass killing of
Armenians in 1915-17 by Ottoman Turks as genocide.