US oil prices soar 10% in the week on fears of US-Iran conflict
NEW YORK: Oil futures rose about 1 per cent on Friday, with US crude up 10 per cent and global benchmark Brent gaining 5 per cent in the week, on fears the United States could attack Iran and disrupt flows from the Middle East, which provides more than a fifth of the world’s oil output.
US gasoline futures, meanwhile, jumped 4 per cent following a massive fire at Philadelphia Energy Solutions’ refinery in Philadelphia, the largest on the US East Coast.
“The heightening of tensions between the United States and Iran has evolved as primary price motivator in spiking oil values,” Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note.
