New York (awp/afp) – Oil prices rose on Thursday, with operators fearing a possible Israeli response against oil installations in Iran, while assessing the impact of the passage of Hurricane Milton in Florida.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in December rose 3.68%, to $79.40.
A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) due in November gained 3.56%, to $75.85.
“Some believe that Israel is moving closer to some form of attack in response to Iranian missile launches…and there is a good chance that Iranian oil facilities are in their crosshairs,” Stewart said Glickman, CFRA analyst.
“The markets are trying to calibrate all this and today they have decided that the chances (of fighting back) are higher, so oil prices are also going up,” he added.
On October 1, Iran launched around 200 missiles against Israel, an attack presented as a response to the assassination of the leader of Palestinian Hamas in Tehran, blamed on Israel, the leader of Lebanese Hezbollah as well as a general of the Guards of the Iranian Revolution in an Israeli strike near Beirut.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed Wednesday that his country’s response to the Iranian missile attack would be “deadly, precise and surprising.”
If this response was successful, it could affect places of “production”, “refining”, or even “export”, assumed Mr. Glickman.
“The current debate (…) is whether or not the market is underestimating the impact of a potential attack on Iranian oil supplies,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group, in a note.
Investors also began assessing the impact of Category 3 of 5 Hurricane Milton, which made landfall in Florida on Wednesday evening, sparking tornadoes and flooding and causing extensive damage.
Thursday morning, more than 3 million homes were without electricity.
These cuts also concern “certain gas stations”, explained Stewart Glickman, for whom Hurricane Milton will “temporarily” reduce oil demand.
According to Patrick De Haan, of the specialist site GasBuddy, around 25% of stations in Florida were out of fuel on Thursday.
“As surprising as it may seem, offshore oil platforms that were closed before the hurricane are already operational again,” noted Flynn.
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