Oil climbs over 3% to near six-week high as conflict threatens key oil transit routes
XLE•Oil rises on supply disruption fears
Oil prices rose to a near six-week high on Wednesday, with Brent crude surpassing $95 a barrel, on mounting concerns about disruptions to Middle Eastern supply routes because of escalating hostilities between the U.S. and Iran and threats to shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up $3.30, or 3.63%, at $94.31 a barrel at 1137 GMT after hitting a session high of $95.47.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 climbed $2.80, or 3.32%, to $87.14.
Both benchmarks touched their highest levels since June 11.
The Brent crude three-month timespread widened to $10.89 a barrel, its widest since May 22, deepening backwardation on mounting supply risks. Backwardation is where prompt crude trades above later-dated barrels, typically signalling tighter near-term supply.
