March 29, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1428

LONDON, March 28: Oil prices soared on Wednesday as Britain froze ties with Iran, the world’s fourth largest producer of crude, in response to the Islamic country's refusal to release 15 British sailors.

Traders also digested official data that revealed US stockpiles of crude oil and refined products dipped over the past week.

The price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery leapt $1.67 to $66.27 a barrel in electronic trading.

Overnight, Brent crude had surged as high as $69.00 -- last seen on September 4 -- on rumours of military conflict in Iran.

The rumours quickly evaporated, leading to heavy profit-taking before the close of Tuesday’s trade.On Wednesday New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, jumped $1.62 to $64.55 in pit deals.

New York crude had rocketed to $68.09 on Tuesday -- the highest level since September 6 last year.

Analysts have said that Iran might decide to disrupt its oil exports should tensions with the West escalate.

As well as its standoff with Britain over detained sailors, Iran refuses to bow to international pressure over its disputed nuclear programme.

“The overriding factor today is still the Iranian situation,” said Daiwa Securities analyst Mark Pervan.

“It’s a lot of ‘just in case’ buying at this stage.”

Britain announced on Wednesday a freeze on all official ties with Iran over the Islamic state's detention of sailors and marines in the Gulf.

Aside from Iran, dealers pored over a weekly update on American energy inventory data. Crude stockpiles fell by 900,000 barrels to 328.4 million in the week to March 23, the Department of Energy said.—AFP