Oil hits nine-month high near $115 on Iraq turmoil

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Brent crude hit a nine-month high near $115 a barrel on Thursday on concerns heavy fighting in Iraq could limit oil supply from OPEC's second-biggest producer. Government forces battled Sunni militants for control of Iraq's biggest refinery as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki waited for a U.S. response to an appeal for air strikes to beat back the threat to Baghdad. The sprawling Baiji refinery, 200 km (130 miles) north of the Iraqi capital near Tikrit, was a battlefield as troops loyal to the Shi'ite-led government held off insurgents from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and its allies who had stormed the perimeter, threatening national energy supplies. Brent was poised for a third day of gains following a rise of more than 4 percent last week after Islamist militants seized much of northern Iraq.



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