Sara Akbar, chief executive of Kuwait Energy, an independent oil and gas company focused on the region, brought to the IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ annual energy conference in Houston what she called a “view from the street” on the North Africa/Middle East tensions.
Akbar said that although the region was made up of disparate countries, they had enough similarities that one spark had set off change throughout. Even in Kuwait – which she noted had a very stable political system – there were calls for change.
At least half of Libya’s oil production has been shut down in the wake of the violence wracking the country, industry executives estimate.
The continuing disruption in the country, the world’s 12th largest exporter of crude, drove oil prices to a fresh 2½-year peak on Wednesday. Brent oil futures jumped 3.7 per cent to hit $110 a barrel for the first time since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The benchmark has risen 7.7 per cent since Monday.
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