International oil prices soared overnight! Bad news came out from the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine at the same time. U.S. oil surged more than 10% in a single week

International oil prices rose sharply on Friday (16th).

International oil prices rose sharply on Friday (16th) as Iran stepped up its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, while the Yemeni rebel Youth Movement launched missiles into Saudi Arabia, and Ukraine vowed to continue attacking Russian oil refineries.

Brent crude oil futures once hit $110 a barrel during the session, the first time since May. Later, the gains slightly converged, and finally closed at $109.86 a barrel, up 3.7%.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil in New York rose 3.5% to settle at $101.41 a barrel.

WTI has risen by more than 10% this week, while Brent crude has risen by nearly 5%.

A spokesman for the Saudi Arabian military said the kingdom intercepted multiple missiles fired from the Red Sea on Friday, one of which was heading towards the oil export terminal Yanbu. The Saudi military said that three drones were also destroyed in the Saudi capital Riyadh and southern areas.

Youth movements have launched repeated attacks on Saudi Arabia this week. The Saudi Energy Ministry said that oil giant Saudi Aramco was also attacked, and an administrative building of the company in Dhahran was hit on Tuesday (13th).

The youth movement attacked Riyadh International Airport on the 10th, killing 12 people and injuring more than 300 people.

Since last Sunday (11th), at least nine oil tankers and cargo ships have been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command said Iran sank the container ship GFS Pride on Wednesday. Singapore's maritime authorities said the crew of the Singapore-flagged vessel had safely evacuated.

The International Maritime Organization said this week's attacks had injured three sailors and left two others missing.

After returning to pre-war levels in September, crude oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz have fallen again. Data provided by energy research agency Kpler showed that crude oil shipments were 9.4 million barrels per day in the week ended Wednesday, about 70% of the average level before the outbreak of the war with Iran.

At the same time, despite a nominal ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, Russia continues to attack Ukrainian infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said authorities in Kiev would resume attacks on Russian oil refineries in retaliation.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said that due to the impact of Hurricane Isaias, oil production facilities in the U.S. Gulf Coast region were shut down, causing U.S. commercial crude oil inventories to drop by more than 8 million barrels in the week ending October 9, further pushing up U.S. crude oil prices.