Oil futures gained more ground in electronic trading late Tuesday, with U.S. benchmark prices near $87 a barrel after settling at their highest level in more than seven years. Turkey’s state pipeline operator Botas said it cut oil flow through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan crude oil pipeline after an explosion near the southeastern province of Kahramanmaras in Turkey, Reuters reported Tuesday. In a translated statement, Botas said the pipeline would be put back into operation as soon as possible, once necessary measures are taken. The pipeline carries more than 450,000 barrels from northern Iraq into the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan (Turkey), according to a tweet from Javier Blas, energy and commodities columnist at Bloomberg. The news of the disruption to the pipeline’s flow of oil follows Tuesday’s price rise to their highest levels since 2014, which were triggered by an attack on oil infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates. In electronic trading, February West Texas Intermediate crude was at $86.89, up from Tuesday’s settlement at $85.43.
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