BEIJING, Oct 9 — Oil prices jumped more than $3 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday, as dramatic military clashes between Israeli forces and Hamas over the weekend exacerbated political uncertainty across the Middle East.
Brent crude LCOc1 rose $3.34, or 3.95%, to $87.92 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was at $86.23 a barrel, up $3.44, or 4.16%.
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Saturday launched the biggest military attack on Israel in decades, killing hundreds of Israelis and triggering a wave of Israeli air strikes on Gaza that continued into Sunday.
The outbreak of violence threatens to derail US efforts to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Israel, where the kingdom would normalize relations with Israel in return for a defense deal between Washington and Riyadh.
The normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations would likely freeze recent moves toward detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
“Elevated geopolitical risks in the Middle East should support oil prices… higher volatility can be expected,” analysts from ANZ Bank said in a client note.
The attack drew condemnation from Western countries but was publicly praised by Iran and by Hezbollah, Iran’s ally in Lebanon.
Market attention has turned to possible Iranian involvement in the attack, which Israeli authorities have claimed.
“For this conflict to have a lasting and meaningful impact on the oil market, there must be a sustained reduction in the supply or transportation of oil,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in a note.
“If Western countries officially link Iranian intelligence to Hamas attacks, then Iran’s oil supply and exports face a definite risk of decline,” said Dhar.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
