Hedge funds cut bullish bets on Brent crude to the lowest level in six months last week, another signal that traders expect supplies from Iraq to remain safe from an Islamist insurgency in the north of the OPEC member. Brent futures traded near a nine-month low in London today as U.S. air strikes against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq reassured investors that oilfields in the adjacent Kurdish region would stay unaffected. Supplies from southern Iraq, home to about 85 percent of the nation’s output, continue to flow undisturbed by violence in the north, with Oil Minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi saying that exports will exceed 2.5 million barrels a day in August. “For me, it’s justified,” Torbjoern Kjus, an analyst at DNB ASA in Oslo said of the pull-back by traders. “I wouldn’t be putting on any new positions. It’s going to be a mess in Iraq for a […]