Oil prices push above $105 per barrel

NEW YORK (AP) – Oil prices pushed above $105 per barrel Tuesday, as traders focused on a series of international crises that could tighten global supplies at a time when consumption is expected to increase.

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rose $1.88 to settle at $104.97 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. At one point it was as high as $105.18. In London, Brent crude gained 73 cents to settle at $115.64 per barrel.

Energy economists continued to gauge how recent unrest in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria will affect exports from a region that produces 27 percent of the world’s oil. Libya, which sits on the largest oil reserves in Africa, has almost totally stopped petroleum shipments as rebels battle pro-Gadhafi troops. The addition of international forces, including the US, could mean that the country will be embroiled in a protracted conflict that will keep oil fields offline much longer than previously expected, energy experts said.

In Yemen, embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh pledged to step down more than a year early, but his refusal to leave immediately infuriated tens of thousands of demonstrators. Yemen is an important transfer point for global oil supplies.

“Tensions are still pretty high in that entire region, so prices are going to stay above $100 per barrel for a while,” PFG Best analyst Phil Flynn said.

Iraq’s new oil minister said Tuesday that he expects oil to reach $120 a barrel. Iraq produces about 2.4 million barrels of oil per day.

Retail gasoline prices in the US held steady on Tuesday at a national average of $3.547 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. They’re still the highest ever for this time of year. A gallon of regular has jumped 37.9 cents in the last month and is 72.7 cents more expensive than a year ago.

OPIS gasoline analyst Fred Rozell said gasoline prices may continue to rise this spring to a national average of $3.75 per gallon. “With everything happening around the world, we’re not going to see prices fly backward anytime soon,” Rozell said.