Global oil prices started growing on Friday against the background of hopes of coping with the debt crisis in Europe after successful auctions in Spain and Italy, RIA Novosti reports.
February futures for Light Sweet Crude Oil at 8.38 am increased by $0.56 (0.57%) to $99.66 per barrel. February futures for Brent rose by $0.64 (0.58%) to $111.9 per barrel.
Light Sweet Crude Oil dropped below $100 per barrel for the first time this year, based on hopes that the European Union would postpone the oil embargo against Iran by at least 6 months.
The Italian Finance Ministry managed to reduce the profitability of government bonds from 5.952% to 2.735%. Italy issued bonds worth 12 billion euros.
Spain issued bonds worth 9.98 billion euros, exceeding the benchmark of 4-5 billion euros.
Ric Spooner, an analyst of CMC Markets, said that the situation around the oil embargo against Iran remains unclear. The oil embargo does not correspond to rising interest in risky assets after positive results from debt auctions in Italy and Spain.
