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Bloomberg
Oil surged to a two-week high in New York as President Donald Trump told Russia in a tweet to “get ready†for US missiles to be fired at Syria.
Futures in New York rose as much as 1.3 percent after climbing the most in eight months. President Donald Trump has intensified preparations for a response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, a move that could place the US in direct conflict with Russian forces. While the Middle East country’s own oil production is limited, prices often respond to the risk of war in a region that holds almost half of the world’s oil reserves.
Oil has seesawed this year as record output from American producers offsets cuts by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies aimed at eliminating a global oversupply.
While the market has focussed on US crude inventory data for signs on whether the OPEC cuts are working, political premium has returned to oil prices with risks from tensions in the Middle East and a potential trade war between America and China.
“The focus is on the West’s probable military strike against the Syrian regime,†said Carsten Fritsch and Eugen Weinberg, analysts at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.
West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was at $66.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 66 cents at 12:24 p.m. in London, after climbing $2.09 in the biggest jump since late July. Total volume traded on Wednesday was about 73 percent above the 100-day average.