Crude prices are still well-supported, but in a market that is thin in
terms of volume, says Thina Saltveldt of Nordea Bank. "The recent
developments in Africa, around South Sudan especially, have been pushing
up prices in the last few days," she says. In northern Africa there are
also problems re-establishing exports. "Libya was supposed to come back
to the market before the Christmas week, and now the latest I've seen
is that some of the ports won't be back on until the end of the first
quarter" of 2014, she says. However, the holiday season means that low
volumes are being traded on the exchanges, which can skew the prices
somewhat, says Ms Saltvedt ICE February Brent is -1 cent, or 0.01%, at
$112.17/bbl. Nymex February crude is -6 cents, or 0.06%, at $100.26/bbl.