Oil prices jumped almost 4 percent on Friday, reaching toward $70 per barrel after a US airstrike killed a top Iranian general in Iraq, raising fears of war in the world's top hub for crude production
NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2020) Oil prices jumped almost 4 percent on Friday, reaching toward $70 per barrel after a US airstrike killed a top Iranian general in Iraq, raising fears of war in the world's top hub for crude production.
London-traded Brent, the global oil benchmark, was up $2.42, or 3.7 percent, at $68.67 per barrel by 9:32 AM ET (14:32 GMT), after the US drone attack near Baghdad airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the commander who led Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds force.
Earlier on Friday, Brent hit $69.48, the closest it has gotten to $70 per barrel since the mid-September attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities which Washington accused Tehran of masterminding.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude benchmark, was up $2.17, or 3.6 percent, at $63.35 per barrel. Earlier in the session, it reached $64.08.
"This has put risk premium back in the oil market," Dan Flynn, a commodities analyst at the price Futures Group in Chicago, said, referring to the Soleimani killing, which Iran has vowed to avenge.
Oil prices closed 2019 with their large gains in three years. Brent rose 24 percent on the year while the West Texas Intermediate gained 34 percent.
