Oil prices traded at their highest level in five months, with Brent crude rising to above $115 a barrel.
The surge comes amid fears that US President Donald Trump might renew its strikes on Iran following next month's mid-term elections.
Global markets were contending 'with concerns around surging oil prices and the sustainability of AI spending', noted AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson.
'Oil is at five-month highs amid speculation there may be renewed US-Israeli strikes after next month's US midterm elections.
'Escalating tensions in Ukraine and the prospect of increased energy demand as the northern hemisphere heads into the winter months are only adding to the upward pressure on oil and gas prices,' Hewson added.
Benchmark international oil contract Brent crude for December delivery rose as high as $115.45.
Wall Street's main indices slid at the start of trading, with the blue-chip Dow sinking one per cent.
'The ongoing agitation of the oil market has contributed to the lack of a buy-the-dip impulse' that has often helped Wall Street stocks avoid pulling lower this year.
Oil prices traded at their highest level in five months on Friday
The surge comes amid fears that US President Donald Trump might renew its strikes on Iran
High oil prices also 'keep inflation concerns and rate hike concerns on the front burner', he added.
The surge in oil prices comes as a tanker filled with Russian diesel headed for New York on Friday, the Kremlin confirmed, after the US eased sanctions in a deal that shocked Ukraine and its European allies.
Trump struck the deal with President Vladimir Putin this month as Russia's war against Ukraine - Europe's worst since World War II - dragged on and as his relations with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky plummeted.
The agreement is widely seen as an attempt by Trump to lower US fuel prices ahead of mid-term elections next month, with his Republican party facing mounting voter frustration.
Russia has been under massive Western sanctions since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump's decision to waive some sanctions to allow more Russian diesel into global markets came as Moscow's forces scaled up attacks on Kyiv.
Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for soaring fuel prices.
But analysts have said the war Trump launched in Iran in February was the main driver for the rising prices.
The tanker Agioi Fanendes, sailing under the Maltese flag, was located off Helsinki on Friday and indicated 'New York' as its destination on its AIS transponder signal, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.
The ship left Russia's Baltic port of Primorsk overnight, after loading nearly 300,000 barrels of diesel at the oil terminal there, Kpler said. It was due to reach New York around November 7.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the 'first tanker set sail for its intended recipients, its buyers'.
'Further shipments will continue at a steady pace,' he told reporters.
A tanker filled with Russian diesel headed for New York on Friday (file image)
Following a telephone call with Putin this month, Trump said Russia would supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to US and global markets, with another 500,000 tonnes to follow in November and another one million tonnes after that.
Primorsk - which has been hit by Ukrainian drones this year - is Russia's main oil loading port in the Baltic Sea, in the Leningrad region near Finland.
The tanker is travelling through European waters as Russia has expressed increasing confidence it will win the war, and as Putin continues insisting Moscow will seize all of Ukraine.
Trump has faced criticism at home for the diesel deal, with some Republican and Democratic senators joining forces to urge the US president to drop the accord, calling it a 'betrayal' that will do little to ease fuel prices.
Ukraine's Zelensky slammed the deal as 'not honest', warning it would mean 'extra money for the Russian war', as he pleaded with Washington not to side with the Kremlin
But with energy prices soaring, Trump has stood by the deal, saying: 'Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority.'
The tanker headed for New York shortly after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held separate talks with Zelensky and Putin this week, with both agreeing to resume Ukraine-Russia-US talks.
The Kremlin said Friday that the talks are 'planned' to resume in November in Abu Dhabi.
Putin said Thursday that the talks should build towards a final peace agreement, not a 'short pause in fighting' in Ukraine.
Zelensky has insisted a ceasefire is necessary for real talks to go ahead, and accused Moscow of showing 'no change' in its position on the war since the Witkoff meeting.
Trump, Putin and China's President Xi Jinping were expected to hold talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit next month, heightening European and Ukrainian fears a deal could be struck over their heads.