U.S. crude oil on Friday posted its biggest weekly gain in futures trading history, as the escalating war in the Middle East has triggered a major disruption to global fuel supplies.
West Texas Intermediatefutures surged 12.21%, or $9.89, to close at $90.90 per barrel. Global benchmarkBrentrallied 8.52%, or $7.28, to settle at $92.69 per barrel.
U.S. crude soared 35.63% for the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating back to 1983. Brent jumped about 28% for its biggest weekly gain since April 2020.
President Donald Trump on Friday demandedunconditional surrenderfrom Iran, raising fears of a prolonged war that could wreak havoc on the global oil and gas market. The war has already brought traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route for energy supplies, to a near standstill.
Qatar's energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, toldThe Financial Timeson Friday that crude prices could reach $150 per barrel in the coming weeks if oil tankers were unable to pass through the Strait.
This could "bring down the economies of the world," Kaabi said.
"Everybody that has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days that this continues," Kaabi told the FT. "All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure. If they don't, they are at some point going to pay the liability for that legally, and that's their choice."
The Trump administration on Friday announced a $20 billioninsurance programfor oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, though the measure did little to calm the crude market.
Iraq has shut down 1.5 million barrels per day of production, two Iraqi officials told Reuters Tuesday. Kuwait has also started cutting production after running out of storage space, people familiar with the matter toldThe Wall Street Journalon Friday.
"The market is shifting from pricing pure geopolitical risk to grappling with tangible operational disruption," Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities research at JPMorgan, told clients in a Friday note.
Source: Drudge Report
