ISLAMABAD: Crude oil prices increased on Tuesday as tensions in the Middle East continued to spur concerns. As of 1110 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $0.52 (+0.63 percent) to reach $82.73 a barrel. Similarly, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up by $0.43 (+0.55 percent) to $78.36 a barrel. On the other hand, the price of Arab Light increased by $0.99 (+1.2 percent) to reach $83.73 a barrel. Similarly, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $0.98 (+1.3 percent) to $76.10. Following suit, the price for Opec Basket inched up to $83.08 a barrel with an uptick of $0.37 (+0.45 percent). Both global benchmarks ended last week lower on bearish Chinese data that signalled weaker demand in the world’s leading crude importer. Brent ended last week lower by 1.78 percent. Brent fell to $82.08 a barrel from $83.57 a barrel, showing a decrease of $1.49 on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. WTI also closed last week lower to $78.01 from $79.97 a barrel, registering a weekly decrease of $1.96 (-2.45 percent). TLTP
