Oil Climbs a Third Day Amid Greece Optimism, Iran Tension

By Ben Sharples Oil advanced for a third day in New York amid signs voters in Greece may support a European Union bailout, easing concern that the region’s debt crisis will worsen and derail the global economic recovery. Futures gained as much as 0.6 percent after Greece’s New Democracy party, which supports the bailout plan agreed with international lenders, placed first in all six opinion polls published in the country May 26. Oil has slipped 13 percent this month amid concern Europe’s crisis will curb fuel demand. Prices climbed on May 25 after the United Nations atomic agency said Iran boosted its output of enriched uranium. Crude for July delivery increased as much as 51 cents to $91.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $91.27 at 9:30 a.m. Sydney time. The contract rose 0.2 percent to $90.86 on May 25, the highest close since May 22. Prices are down 7.7 percent this year. There will be no floor trading in New York today because of the Memorial Day holiday. Brent oil for July settlement was at $106.90 a barrel, up 7 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark contract’s premium to West Texas Intermediate was at $15.63, from $15.97 on May 25. Iran Inspections Iran almost doubled its stockpile of 20 percent medium- enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency said May 25 in a report. The inspectors also reported they’d found “the presence of particles” of 27 percent-enriched uranium at the nation’s Fordo facility. The West has imposed sanctions on oil exports by Iran, the second-biggest crude producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia, to curb its nuclear program. While the Persian Gulf nation insists that its atomic work is peaceful, it has been under IAEA scrutiny since 2003 over evidence that it is seeking nuclear-weapon capabilities. The leader of New Democracy, Antonis Samaras, said on May 26 that the cost of Greece leaving the euro area would be greater than staying in the shared currency. The party led by a margin of as much as 5.7 percentage points over Syriza, the main party opposed to implementing the terms of financial aid packages, according to a poll by Kapa Research SA for To Vima newspaper. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-27/oil-climbs-a-third-day-amid-greece-optimism-iran-tension.html