Oil prices shoot back up

Oil prices shot up to $45 (€37) a barrel today after the Russian oil giant Yukos said it cannot pay wages and that its output could suffer due to a court ruling that froze some of its assets.

Analysts doubted that the dire picture painted by Yukos would come true, although the company’s comments nevertheless reignited supply fears, coming just one day after government and industry data showed a sharp decline last week in US oil inventories.

Also, saboteurs today blew up an oil pipeline near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

“Some of the factors that had gone out of the equation have come back,” said John Kilduff, senior oil analyst in New York.

Light crude for October delivery jumped one dollar to $45.07 on the New York Mercantile Exchange in midday trading.