The steep rise in the price of oil seen this week in response to the tension Middle East crisis is unlikely to lead to an increase in petrol prices just yet, according to Irish oil companies.
A spokeswoman for Statoil told ireland.com that the company had no immediate plans to pass on the recent increase in crude to Irish consumers. She said the recent peak in oil prices came as no great surprise as prices had been on an upward trend in recent months.
She added the company will be assessing the situation over the coming week before making a price decision at its next review meeting scheduled for next week.
Profit-taking took the shine off gold and oil today, after the so-called "war commodities" hit peaks this week on escalating tension in the Middle East.
Oil hit six-month highs yesterday and safe-haven gold approached two-year highs in early trade today after Iraq on Monday urged Arabs to impose an oil embargo against supporters of Israel, primarily the United States.
But the oil rally came off the boil as swelling US stockpiles overshadowed the Middle East conflict, at least temporarily. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, has also poured cold water on the Iraqi proposal.
"The primary driver of oil prices right now is hostilities in the Middle East, but this (US stockpiles) report is more bearish than expected," said Mr Kyle Cooper of Salomon Smith Barney in Houston.
The Middle East holds two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and the 1973 Arab oil embargo led to a quadrupling of crude prices which badly damaged the US economy.
The dollar was unchanged from the New York close against the euro around $0.8790 and against the Swiss franc around 1.6635 francs.
At times of international uncertainty, investors often move funds into markets they believe to be less vulnerable to potential economic or political crises.
The dollar lost one per cent to the safe haven Swiss franc and to the euro on Monday, and is hovering above those lows.