A WINTER of high oil prices and a squeeze on the supply of crude are being predicted after saboteurs wrecked US plans to restore Iraqi crude exports through a pipeline to Turkey.

The bombing of the pipeline from Kirkuk to Ceyhan on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, led to a 40-cent rise in the price of Brent crude yesterday to $29.21 before losing ground in later trading. Unrest in Nigeria is fanning the fears of a supply squeeze in the event of a cold winter in the northern hemisphere. Gunbattles between tribes have claimed ten lives in Warri in the centre of the oil-producing Niger Delta. The violence and theft of crude in the delta cut exports by up to 40 per cent earlier this year.

The Centre for Global Energy Studies gave warning yesterday that oil prices would remain high this winter if Opec did not take steps to alleviate the situation. “Iraq remains an uncertain exporter of oil and Saudi Arabia has done nothing to compensate for the failure of its northern neighbour to raise exports as expected,” its Monthly Oil Report says.

Optimists had hoped for a quick recovery in Iraq’s output after the rapid military victory but efforts to restore exports to pre-war levels of two million bpd have been hurt by sabotage and power failures.

Venezuela, too, has failed to restore its oil production after the crippling strikes last winter.