Iraqi saboteurs have blown up a key oil pipeline in the south of their country, stirring a dollar gain in the price of North Sea oil to $105.11 per barrel.

Crude oil from the Zubair 1 field was disrupted when one of two trunklines in the British-controlled south was demolished by a blast, Reuters has reported.

The agency wrote that a third of exports from Basra, some 500 million barrels of oil, appear to be affected.