ALBAWABA - With the Middle East crisis intensifying and a Ukrainian drone attack on a major Russian oil plant, investors eagerly watched new supply risks, as CNBC reports, pushing oil prices to a record high since last October at over $89 per barrel on Tuesday.
After peaking at $89.08, Brent futures for June delivery ended the day up 1.7 percent at $88.92, a $1.50 hike, according to Reuters, with US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures for May seeing a top of $85.46, also the highest since October, before closing up $1.44, or around 1.7%, at $85.15.
The increasing attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil infrastructure, mainly refineries, add to the geopolitical danger that already exists and make the current shortage of refined goods worse, says an analyst from Goldman Sachs, according to Yahoo Finance, adding that "risks to physical oil flows remain high."
Iran, an OPEC member, has accused Israel of carrying out a devastating airstrike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, killing seven of its personnel, according to CNBC, Tehran said that it will exact retribution for the strike, which was seen as a significant turning point in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The energy sector has outperformed the S&P 500 so far this year as a result of the shift in oil prices, according to Yahoo Finance, and despite a wider sell-off in the stock market, the S&P 500 Energy Select ETF (XLE) reached a 52-week high once again.
