Oil
Prices Rise About 5% Following Iran Attack on
American Forces in Iraq
---West Texas Rises about $ 65
1
January 2020
(Reuters)
- Oil surged sharply, increasing US crude by about
three dollars, on
Wednesday after the United States said its forces in
Iraq have been
attacked by Iranian ballistic missiles, raising the
possibility of a
regional conflict that could disrupt oil supplies.
By
00:29 GMT, West Texas Intermediate crude futures were
nearly $ 3
higher, equalling roughly 5% to $ 65.50 a barrel.
Brent crude has not
seen trading after falling about 1% on Tuesday.
“We
are working on preliminary assessments of the damage
caused," US
Defense Department spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in
a statement,
adding that the attack targeted Ain al-Assad Air Base
and another
base in Arbil.
The
Iranian Mehr News Agency said that the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards
targeted the above said base. Tehran has vowed to
avenge the
assassination of the Iranian military commander Qassem
Soleimani in a
US air strike on 3 January.
According
to Al-Mayadeen TV Channel, sirens were heard and US
helicopters were
seen flying over Ain al-Assad Base in Anbar Province,
Iraq, in the
early hours of Wednesday morning.
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