Oil soars to $120 per barrel on Iran fears

The price of Brent crude hit a six-month high last night amid fears Iran had halted exports to Europe.

The price of crude hit $119.99 per barrel, a peak not seen since last August, as traders fretted over whether the world's third largest exporter had actually stopped selling oil to the European Union. An Iranian state-owned broadcaster reported the country had stopped sales to six European countries, but this was initially denied by the Ministry of Oil in Tehran. It later said it could neither confirm nor deny the news. The spike in prices during trading took Brent to its highest level since the Libya crisis last year, but it did fall back late-on. By this morning it was trading...