Commodities : Tuesday, Sept. 26, 1985 : Oil Futures Soar Again

Petroleum futures prices soared in active trading Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange as the world’s crude oil supplies faced more disruptions.

Iraq continued to bomb Iran’s oil-loading terminal at Kharg Island, inflicting further damage, preventing repairs and forcing Iran to cancel some of its contracts to supply crude oil, said Peter Beutel, a petroleum analyst with Rudolf Wolff Energy.

In addition, the Soviet Union announced that it was canceling or delaying oil shipments to European customers that had been scheduled for October, Beutel said.

And finally, he added, Saudi Arabia announced that it could not accept any orders for oil from its floating storage marketing arm.

“This all comes on top of the API report,” he said, referring to the American Petroleum Institute’s weekly inventory report, which disclosed declines in domestic supplies of crude oil, heating oil and gasoline.

“I haven’t seen things this wild and bullish since I can’t tell you when,” Beutel said.

Grain and soybean futures prices were lower on the Chicago Board of Trade.