Shakespeare could not have written a better script about this comedy of errors. It has been revealed that the price of oil went up by $1 per barrel after traders misread a tweet from the official Israeli Defense Forces account about the country’s Air Force bombarding Syrian airports. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) sent out a tweet marking the anniversary of the 1973 October War, also popularly referred to as the Yom Kippur War. The tweet said that the day marked the anniversary of when the Israeli Air Force bombarded Syrian airports to prevent Soviet weapons from reaching the Syrian Army. The tweet was followed by a link to a blog post that presented a time line of events during the war.
Oct. 10 #YomKippur73: Israel Air Force bombards airports in Syria to prevent Soviet weapons reaching the Syrian Army http://t.co/tKnMzYjgFF
— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) October 10, 2013
Now, we’re not sure what exactly traders around the world were reading off the tweet, but a mini-panic of sort was caused by a commemorative post. Traders jumped the gun, pushing the price of oil up by $1 from $110.40 a barrel at 7:50PM. EDT last night – just before the Tweet – to as high as $111.50 just after 8:30PM, according to Reuters.Essentially, traders failing to notice the #YomKippur73 hashtag as well as the mention of “Soviet weapons” caused a problem that has yet to be solved. Reuters says that although traders quickly realised the historical nature of the tweet, oil priced maintained their high.Peter Lerner, IDF’s Spokesperson tweeted out his disbelief over the incident soon after. He even told Reuters, "Obviously this was part of our Yom Kippur Twitter series. The facts are there and simple to read. It was apparent within the Tweet itself.”
@PC4390 @IDFSpokesperson I was in now way an intentional outcome. Sloppy oil traders reading only half of the tweet.
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) October 10, 2013
Even as traders are increasingly relying on social networking websites like Twitter to gain information about all that’s happening around the world, they need to be careful of what makes them jump. While this was a part tragic, part comic event, a confusion of this sort could cause a panic around the world when oil prices go up.
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