Oil prices eased in Asia today on softer US demand, but tensions in West Asia, where jihadists have declared an Islamic state straddling Iraq and Syria, will likely keep the prices high, analysts said.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 26 cents at $105.48 a barrel in late-morning trade and Brent crude dropped 22 cents to $113.08.

Analysts said investors are concerned after data last week showed that consumer spending in the United States, the world’s biggest economy, rose a mere 0.2 per cent in May after flattening in April.

US jobless claims, another barometer for the giant American economy, totalled 312,000 in the week ending June 21, down just 2,000 from the week before.

As the world’s top oil consuming nation, the health of the US economy is a key influence on oil prices.

Investors were also monitoring the latest news from the oil-producing West Asia, after militants had yesterday said they were establishing a caliphate covering wide areas of Iraq and Syria.

French bank BNP Paribas has raised its average oil price forecasts for 2014 and 2015 by 4-6 per cent because of the developments in West Asia.

“Geopolitics in the Middle East has recently introduced concerns about supply disruptions and, consequently, led to a sharp increase in global crude oil prices,” it said in a commentary.

While actual supply shortages have not happened yet, “the possibility of uncertainties persisting and pushing up the price higher cannot be ignored”, it added.

Other analysts have noted that Iraqi oilfields have remained operational so far.

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