Oil jumps as an attack on an Iraqi pipeline slows oil exports; traders ignore stronger dollar

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil futures shot to nearly $108 a barrel Thursday as concerns about Iraqi oil output stole investors’ attention from the dollar, which stabilized against the euro.
Retail gas prices, meanwhile, inched up overnight while diesel prices slipped.
The bombing of a key Iraqi oil pipeline Thursday morning appeared to cut oil exports from the southern oil city of Basra, despite oil officials’ statements to the contrary. Dow Jones Newswires reported that exports from southern Iraqi terminals have been cut to about 1.2 million barrels a day from a normal rate of 1.56 million barrels a day.
“We’re going to be getting less oil because of the explosion,” said James Cordier, founder of OptionSellers.com, a Tampa, Fla., trading firm.
For traders, the big factor is that Iraqi oil supplies were cut by a deliberate act of terrorism, Cordier said. That raises the prospect of more attacks, and less oil.
Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose 90 cents to $106.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising as high as $107.70.