The fighting in Georgia and tension throughout the region has pushed up the price of oil. Deliveries from Caspian Sea fields have been disrupted, sending US light crude above 116 dollars a barrel. Georgia’s oil ports of Batumi and Poti have reduced exports, while a strategic pipeline through Georgia was cut by an explosion last week before the fighting began.

Russian warships are operating off Georgia’s Black Sea coast, but Moscow denies it is targetting oil shipments. Oil had fallen by five dollars last week, when traders largely ignored the initial fighting.

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