Oil prices climbed to a 6-month high on Friday as traders priced the odds of escalating fighting in the Middle East. Attacks near the Red Sea also stoked worries of further constraints on oil supplies from the region.
Brent crude (BZ=F) futures for December delivery settled at $116.72 per barrel. The international benchmark posted its third consecutive week of gains. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude (CL=F) closed just above $103 a barrel.
President Trump telegraphed an escalation in Iran after the midterm elections and an extended stand-off, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining at the center of the conflict.
This week, the New York Times reported that the US and Israel have reportedly drawn up plans for renewed attacks on Iran after the Nov. 3 elections. The US has ordered nonessential embassy personnel to depart Saudi Arabia after a series of attacks at the country's airports and oil fields.
President Trump has said he will not attack Iran before the midterms and has suggested that fuel prices will fall afterward.
Meanwhile, the Red Sea area has seen increased attacks recently, including on Saudi Arabian airports and on an Aramco oil field this week.
Saudi Aramco on Thursday ordered the evacuation of its headquarters in Dhahran, marking the oil giant's first such evacuation since the Iran war began.
On Friday, the national price of gasoline stood at $4.29 per gallon, roughly $1.22 higher than a year ago. Diesel hovered around $6.31, about $2.68 more than this time last year.
A power outage at a refinery in the Chicago area is expected to send refined fuel prices even higher in the region.
"You're going to see a lot of $5 gas prices in places like Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana," Gulf Oil chief energy adviser Tom Kloza told Yahoo Finance on Thursday.
Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance at https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/brent-crude-tops-116-as-traders-price-in-middle-east-escalation-192101547.html