World Oil Prices Continue to Rise

World oil prices are continuing to rise. According to experts, predictions of a drawn-out war in Iraq caused the price of May futures for Brent crude to rise by USD 0.31 on Tuesday to USD 26.91 a barrel.

The rise in world oil prices was met with optimism on the Russian stock market. Trading on the RTS exchange saw leading oil companies such as LUKoil, YUKOS and Surgutneftegaz rise in value by between 0.2% and 0.9%. By 6 p.m. the RTS had risen by 0.55% to 364.98 points. The dollar remained unchanged at 31.38 roubles, while the euro rose by 29 kopecks to 33.61 roubles.