Crude prices mixed in Asia

SINGAPORE – Crude prices were mixed in Asia Tuesday as traders cheered on a Franco-German debt rescue commitment and exports from oil-producing Kuwait were disrupted, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was up 18 cents to $85.59 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for November delivery dipped 14 cents to $108.81.

Crude markets were supported by optimism resulting from promises by eurozone giants France and Germany on Sunday of swift and incisive action to combat the region’s debt crisis, as well as a Kuwaiti export disruption, analysts said.

“There was… the strike in Kuwait exports and France and Germany coming to agree to keep up with a plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis,” said Ker Chung Yang, commodity analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“All these positive sentiments led energy prices,” he told AFP.

Kuwaiti exports were disrupted Monday as over 3,000 customs officers went on strike demanding better pay, with a trade union official saying that there was a “complete halt to shipping and land freight”.

The strike in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ third largest producer has already caused at least one oil tanker to be barred from sailing as it did not receive customs clearance, and could have wider effects on global oil supply.