Oil inches up to 50 dollars as firefighters attempt to extinguish blazes in Khabbaz field

Shafaq News/ Oil prices rallied to approach the threshold of 50 dollars a barrel after attacks on two oil fields in Kirkuk to reverse a drop triggered by gains in U.S. crude stockpiles.

A statement by the ministry of oil said that Civil defense teams are trying to put out a blaze at the wells in Khabbaz field. Though the effect on production is very small, today’s incident reminded the market of the impact of the country’s security challenges.

Brent crude rose in the settlement for February, 0.52 dollars, or the equivalent of 1.06%, to 49.37 dollars in the European Futures Exchange ICE at 11:10 GMT.

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery rose 1.12% to $ 46.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil fell this week after closing at a nine-month high on Friday after OPEC+ agreed to add 500,000 barrels per day of production from January.