Oil jumps 2% to six-month high

Oil prices jumped over 2 per cent on Friday to their highest settlement since late April on Iran war escalation fears after the 3 November US midterm elections.

December Brent rose 2.4 per cent ($2.76) to $117.64 a barrel after touching $118, January Brent gained $2.63 to $113.43 and US WTI rose 2.08 per cent ($2.12) to $104.12, finishing October up 13.6 per cent and 15.2 per cent.

BOK Financial's Dennis Kissler cited focus on Middle East flows and US-allied escalation after UKMTO reported Friday's Strait of Hormuz tanker bombing, the first limpet mine strike since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in February.

Washington ordered non-emergency staff and families out of Saudi Arabia from 23 October over infrastructure risks as Houthis claimed Thursday attacks on Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura, Rabigh and Abqaiq sites and a Saudi-led coalition intercepted a cruise missile.

As Qatari mediators visited Tehran on Friday, US President Donald Trump said Vice President JD Vance contacted Iran on medical supplies, while Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Tehran had not answered Vance's peace-talk letter, demanding its conditions be met.

Saxo Bank forecast $70 to $90 post-war crude versus $60 to $70 pre-war amid US and Israeli election volatility, while October Saudi exports, US rigs and August output rose despite lower US demand and an armed group shut Libya's 15,000-bpd Hamada-Zawiya pipeline.

Source: Reuters via The Daily Star