Oil prices rose on Wednesday as tensions escalated in the Middle East after hundreds were killed following Israel’s bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, sparking fears about disruptions to oil supplies in the region.
Brent crude rose by 1.75 dollars, or 2% to 91.65 dollars per barrel at 06:09 GMT. WTI crude futures also rose by 1.91 dollars, or 2.2% to 88.57 dollars per barrel.
“Reuters” reported that both indicators rose by more than 2% in early trading, touching their highest levels in two weeks.
Markets calculated the risk premium after the bombing of a Gaza hospital and the martyrdom of hundreds of Palestinians, on Tuesday evening, and Jordan canceled a four-way summit called by the presidents of the United States, Egypt and Palestine.
Vivek Dahar, an analyst at “Commerzbank”, believes that the cancellation of the summit between the US President, Biden, and Arab leaders reduces the likelihood of reaching a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The continuation of the conflict for a long time looks like a scenario that pushes Brent crude futures to exceed 100 dollars per barrel, as it increases the risk of the expansion of the Israeli conflict with Hamas and the direct involvement of Iran in the conflict, Dahar said.
Moreover, US oil inventories fell by about 4.4 million barrels in the week ending on the thirteenth of October, according to market sources, referring to the data of the American Petroleum Management Institute, which is much higher than analysts ‘ expectations of a decline of 300,000 barrels, which also boosted oil prices.
