Brent Retreats As Supply Interruption Worries Fade

Brent crude oil eased back towards $113 on Tuesday as worries about a supply interruption in Iraq subsided. The commodity traded at $113.95 at 6:42 GMT as geopolitical tension around the world looked to be easing.

Clashes between fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, have been supportive to oil prices recently as many worry that Iraqi oilfields will fall into rebel hands, or that the nation could slip into a civil war./p>

However Iraqi's southern export terminals, so far not under threat, exported an average of 2.53 million barrels per day through the first half of June. The figure is Iraq's highest export capacity in nearly ten years.

Related Link: Brent Up To $115 As ISIS Moves Toward Baghdad

US Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Baghdad this week to meet with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Kerry promised that the US would provide “intense” and “sustained” support, but only if the Iraqi government does its part in ending the underlying political causes for the tension. The White House turned down Iraqi calls for assistance in the form of air strikes, and instead offered 300 military advisers.

President Obama has said that he believes that the Iraqi government needs to reorganize in order to give minority groups more of a voice, thus ending much of the support for radical groups like ISIS.

Meanwhile geopolitical tension in Ukraine looked to be letting up as pro-Russian rebels have agreed to a ceasefire pact with government forces until June 27. The EU will be working together with Russia to gain Moscow's support for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's peace plan during that time, hopefully putting an end to violence in the Eastern European nation for good.