Physical US crude oil will average $150 a barrel this year due to the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, despite the emergency oil stock release coordinated by International Energy Agency's (IEA), a US fund manager said. Monty Guild, the chief executive of Guild Investment Management, said the IEA's move did not changed oil's fundamentals. "Our opinion continues to be oil prices will reach $150 barrels this year due to the fighting near a big producer," Guild told Reuters in a telephone interview. He was referring to escalating violence in countries such as Syria and Yemen. These countries are very small producers but the market has been concerned about the spillover of the unrest. North African producer Libya's oil supply has been disrupted since February because of its continuing civil war. Last month, the IEA, advisor for 28 industrialized nations on energy policy, announced that member countries would release 60 million barrels of crude oil and refined oil products to cover the lost oil supply from Libya and to pull down high prices. But international US crude oil and ICE Brent crude futures have risen to the levels above where they were before the IEA announcement, after the sharp fall in the initial reaction to it.
