Crude Futures Fall After Blast Denied

Brent crude oil rose more than $1 to a 12-week high on Thursday after news of a sharp cut in Saudi oil production, an explosion in Yemen that halted most of the country’s oil exports and bullish Chinese trade data. Saudi Arabia cut its crude oil production by around 700,000 barrels a day (bpd) over the last two months of last year, with December output at around 9.0 million bpd, an industry source familiar with Saudi oil policy said.

Professor Jim Hamilton nailed it again when he wrote that the OPEC announcement was "largely irrelevant".From the NY Times: Saudi Arabia Defies OPEC and Raises Oil Output

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Brent crude futures climbed near $100 a barrel on Monday and Asian stocks fell, hit by fears of unrest throughout the Middle East sparked by deadly protests in Egypt.

I've just finished a new research paper with my former student (and now University of Chicago Professor) Cynthia Wu. In our new paper, we study how increased purchases of crude oil futures contracts by financial investors may have affected the prices on those contracts.

Excerpts from a new Special Report from

Two people were killed and 16 others injured by an explosion at a gas pipeline near Iran's northeastern city of Mashhad on Friday, local media reported.Mehr news agency, without quoting a source, reported that two workers were killed in the explosion.The website of state television said the explosion took place in the Mazdavand region near Mashhad when a mechanical shovel struck the pipeline.It quoted Alireza Gharibi, head of Iran's Gas Engineering and Development Company, as saying that the blast also left 16 others injured.

Article written by Prieur du Plessis, editor of the Investment Postcards from Cape Town blog. This post is a guest contribution by Dian Chu, market analyst, trader and author of the EconMatters blog.