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Benchmark U.S.  WTI light sweet crude was up 1.9 percent at $37.76 a barrel early afternoon in Asia, after jumping as much as 3.4 percent from the last day of trade in 2015, while  Brent crude was up 2.3 percent at $38.12 a barrel after spiking 2.4 percent over the same period.
        
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                        |  Politics |  
                        | Oil prices boosted with Saudi Arabia-Iran tensions over Shi' |  | An SI Board Since January 2016 | 
 
                    
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 The kneejerk reaction came after Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, after its embassy in Tehran was attacked by Iranians protesting the Saudis' execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.
 
 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/03/saudi-arabia-iran-tensions-over-shiite-execution-boost-oil-futures.html
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