Ammon News - Oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday and settled ​at their highest levels since the end of April, as traders braced for a potential escalation in the Iran war after the US midterm elections, ‌with an attack on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz highlighting supply risks.

Brent crude futures for December , which expired on Friday, settled up $2.76, or 2.4%, at $117.64 a barrel, after touching a high of $118. The more active January contract gained $2.63 to $113.43.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled $2.12, or 2.08%, higher at $104.12.

For the month, Brent finished 13.6% higher, while WTI rose 15.2%.

"Traders will remain ​focused on oil flows out of the Middle East and the likely escalation by US and allied forces," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president ​of trading at BOK Financial.

On Friday, a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was hit by explosive devices attached by a small ⁠boat, said the UKMTO, the British maritime security service. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack in the strait, the key sea outlet for ​Gulf crude and fuel supplies.

It was the first known successful strike in the waterway using limpet mines, explosives that are attached to a ship's hull from a small boat, ​since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in February, maritime sources said.


Reuters