Oil prices were higher today after an explosion in Iraq’s Kurdistan region added to worries about oil supply. “Now we have this new wrinkle here… It’s the production that we really can’t afford to lose,” said John Kilduff, adding that the loss of supply would amplify any other future force majeure or production outages. On the demand side, China’s crude oil imports are expected to rise 6.2% in 2023 from last year’s level to 540 million tons, according to an annual forecast by a research unit of China National Petroleum Corp on Monday. Oil prices also drew support from worries of geopolitical turmoil after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, one of Russia’s most pronounced nuclear signals yet. WTI traded up $3.55 or 5.1% to close at $72.81. Brent traded up $3.13 or 4.2% to close at $78.12.