Oil prices jump 2%, settles at 6-month highs on fears of escalation in Iran

Newswire reports that oil prices rose on Friday to levels last seen in late April, as traders considered the possibility of further escalation in the Iran conflict and risks to regional oil flows. Ada Derana’s headline likewise reports a roughly 2% rise and six-month highs.

Newswire reports that the December Brent contract, which expired on Friday, gained $2.76 to close at $117.64 per barrel after reaching $118. The more actively traded January contract rose $2.63 to $113.43, and US West Texas Intermediate added $2.12, or 2.08%, to finish at $104.12. For the month, Brent advanced 13.6% and WTI gained 15.2%. BOK Financial trading executive Dennis Kissler told Newswire that traders would focus on Middle Eastern oil shipments and the prospect of action by US and allied forces.

Newswire reports that the UK Maritime Trade Operations service said a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by explosives placed by a small boat. It was not immediately known who carried out the attack. Maritime sources characterized it as the first known successful use of hull-attached limpet mines in the strait since the US-Israeli war with Iran started in February. Newswire describes the strait as a major passage for Gulf crude and fuel supplies.

Newswire reports that the US embassy in Riyadh said non-emergency US government employees and their families were to depart Saudi Arabia from October 23 because of safety concerns, citing Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure. Newswire reports that Yemen’s Houthi militants said they had struck several Saudi locations, including the Ras Tanura and Rabigh refineries and a Saudi Aramco production site at Abqaiq. A Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a Houthi cruise missile directed toward western Saudi Arabia.

Written automatically by AI from the outlets’ own reports, and not reviewed by an editor. It can be wrong — the original report is the authority.