Oil price at two-year high

Oil prices have reached a two-year high as mounting tension over Iraq and the continuing strike in Venezuela pushes costs up.

Analysts warned that the hike could feed through to pump prices if the increase is sustained.

In early trading, oil was up 23p at £19 in London.

When the exceptional rise seen on September 11 is stripped out, it's the highest since December 2000.

It follows a rise in the US, where the price jumped to a two-year high of £21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Orrin Middleton, oil analyst at Barclays Capital, said: "At the end of the day, it is pretty much as it has been for the past month - the two driving factors being Iraq and Venezuela."

He says the current situation in Venezuela is more of a factor behind the recent rise in oil prices.