POLITICAL TENSIONS

Almost every day the dollar hits another record low against a basket of currencies no matter what the currency is.

The other critical factor is the Turkey Kurdish affair...with the world in the middle like a ping pong ball..This conflict has sparked worries of supply disruptions from northern Iraq and heightened fears of wider regional fallout if Turkey follows through with threats to launch attacks inside northern Iraq if necessary.Also The abduction of foreign oil workers in Nigeria on Friday that forced ENI unit Saipem and SBM Offshore to cut production by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) also reignited fears of tighter winter supplies. Attacks by militant group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had already cut Nigerian output by a fifth since early last year and forced thousands of foreigners to flee the vast wetlands region in southern Nigeria.

Despite the surge in oil prices, OPEC has shrugged off calls from importer nations to raise output, saying politics and speculation -- not a supply shortfall -- are to blame for the current situation...