Brent oil prices open Tuesday’s trading session back at $115 a barrel, while political unrest planned later this week in the Middle East is set to shape short term oil price direction.

Latest Brent Oil Price

In London, Brent crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery was trading at $104.81, 05.20 GMT this morning on the ICE Futures Exchange.

The turmoil in Libya has escalated and there is some concern that anti government protests may soon spread to Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s primary oil producer and exporter. Reflecting the anxiety about potential oil disruption, Brent crude oil prices continued to rise Monday with the ICE benchmark recently hit $118 a barrel in trading on Monday.

Day of Rage Pushing Oil Prices Higher

Oil traders are betting more than ever that crude oil futures are heading to $200 a barrel as some websites call for a “Day of Rage” in Saudi Arabia and anti government protests spread in the Middle East and North Africa.

The number of outstanding contracts, for “call” options to buy WTI crude oil futures for June 2011 delivery at $200 a barrel has escalated, along with crude futures, to the highest since the options started trading in July 2009 amid worsening civil unrest in Libya and rare demonstrations in Saudi Arabia.

“If you look at the volatility and increase in money for call options in the last month or so, it does suggest that market participants are now more worried about the upside. People are also quite concerned about protests spreading across different parts of the region.” said Yingxi Yu, a Singapore-based commodity analyst with Barclays.