Oil prices jump 5pc as Iran warns to attack ME energy facilities

Oil prices rose more than 5 percent on Wednesday after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to attack several energy facilities across the Middle East in retaliation, heightening the risk of further disruptions to energy supplies in the region. Brent futures rose USD5.26, or 5 percent to USD108.66 a barrel at 1105 a.m. ET (1505 GMT) on Wednesday, having risen to as high as USD109.95 earlier in the session, while US West Texas Intermediate crude gained USD2.44, or 2.54 percent, to USD98.65. WTI also hit its widest discount to Brent since May 2019 on fears of a protracted conflict. Iran’s huge Pars gas field was hit on Wednesday in the first reported strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure in the Gulf during the US-Israeli war, a major escalation that prompted Tehran to warn its neighbours that their energy installations would be targeted “in the coming hours”.