Crude oil prices edged up in early Asian trading on Thursday as demand was estimated to have remained strong despite slowing economic growth in Asia, and as Russian and western air campaigns in Syria worried markets. Traders said that a political risk premium has re-entered oil markets over Syria, where Russia and the United States are both carrying on bombing campaigns without coordination, triggering fears of unintentional clashes. “U.S. markets are also seeing a first impact of that hurricane heading America’s way and we’ve seen some speculative buying of WTI to prepare for the case it impacts Gulf (of Mexico) production,” one broker said. Hurricane Joaquin strengthened in the Atlantic on Wednesday and could become a major storm, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, although forecast models did not agree on […]