Oil price keeps rising as industry eyes Iran-US conflict

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP) — The global benchmark for crude oil rose above $70 a barrel on Monday for the first time in over three months, with jitters rising over the escalating military tensions between Iran and the United States.

The brent contract for oil touched a high of $70.74 a barrel, the highest since mid-September when it briefly spiked over an attack on Saudi crude processing facilities.

Stock markets were down as well amid fears of how Iran would fulfil a vow of “harsh retaliation.”

“The market is concerned about the potential for retaliation, and specifically on energy and oil infrastructure in the region,” said Antoine Halff, a Columbia University researcher and former chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency.

“If Iran chose to incapacitate a major facility in the region, it has the technical capacity to do so.”

The US killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on Friday.

Early Sunday, as Iran threatened to retaliate, President Donald Trump tweeted the US was prepared to strike 52 sites in the Islamic Republic if any Americans are harmed.

Fears that Iran could strike back at oil and gas facilities important to the US and its Persian Gulf allies stem from earlier attacks widely attributed to Iran.

The US has blamed Iran for a wave of provocative attacks in the region, including the sabotage of oil tankers and an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure in September that temporarily halved its production.

Iran has denied involvement in those attacks.

Global stock markets have been sliding since Friday.

European indexes were down over 1% on Monday after Asia closed lower.

Wall Street was expected to slide again on the open, with futures down 0.6%.

Brent crude was up $1.07 at $69.67 a barrel, putting it up almost 6% since before the Iranian general’s killing.

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