Oil rose for a third straight session on Thursday over fears of supply disruptions stemming from an expected Israeli retaliatory strike against Iran.
West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) gained nearly 4% to hover near $73 per barrel. Brent (BZ=F), the international benchmark price, advanced more than 3% to trade above $76 on expectations that Israel will retaliate against Iran following Tehran’s ballistic missile strike earlier this week.
“Futures remain in a nervous trade” about the chance an Israeli response could hit Iranian oil facilities, Dennis Kissler, BOK Financial’s senior vice president of trading, wrote in a note on Thursday.
Concerns over possible interruptions along the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East, a chokepoint for oil shipments, have also sent prices higher.
“If there’s a stranglehold there, and there’s a serious blockage or serious delays, we should clear $80 [Brent]. That is going to push oil prices significantly higher. That is a game changer,” Blue Line Futures founder Bill Baruch told Yahoo Finance this week.
Crude prices are up more than 5% this week, including Thursday’s move.
Futures spiked higher on Tuesday after Iran fired about 200 ballistic missiles in response to Israeli ground raids in southern Lebanon targeting Iranian-backed militants.
Israeli officials said a retaliation could include targeting Iranian oil production facilities, according to an Axios report.
Despite this week’s move higher, OPEC+ spare capacity could be keeping prices relatively contained.
On Wednesday futures pared gains after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak signaled that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its production allies would move forward with its plan to start raising output starting in December.
Last week, the futures market slumped following a report that the oil alliance leader Saudi Arabia is determined to start unwinding voluntary production cuts later this year, even if it leads to lower crude prices.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @ines_ferre.
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