London - Oil shares rose just before the air attacks. Prices jumped to more than $11 a barrel in London and reached $12.38 in New York just before news broke of the air attacks.
Dealers gambled on Iraq's oil output being stemmed by the crisis, taking its 3 per cent share of global oil output off the market and easing the current glut. The rise comes after months of steadily falling oil prices, which reached a 12-year low last week of less than $10 a barrel.