Oil Prices Hit a Six-Month High in World Markets as Brent Crosses $116 a Barrel

Crude oil prices have climbed to their highest level in six months in world markets amid fears of disrupted energy supplies from the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has crossed $116 a barrel.

According to a Reuters report, Brent crude ended trading on Friday (October 23) up $3.55, or 3.14 percent, at $116.72 a barrel. It is the highest price for the fuel since April 29.

On the same day, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also rose sharply. WTI gained $3.80, or 3.8 percent, to reach $103.27 a barrel.

Both benchmarks also rose over the week as a whole. Brent crude gained 6 percent across the week, while WTI rose 2.3 percent.

Supply anxiety in the market is cited in the report as the main driver of the increase. News of a Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure created fresh unease in the market.

Added to that was news of an oil spill off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. Together, the two developments deepened investors' concern over whether supplies from the key producing region would remain normal.

Because the Middle East is one of the world's principal energy producing and exporting regions, any instability there quickly feeds into international markets. Market participants see the latest price rise as a reflection of that supply risk.

Meanwhile, various countries have moved to draw on strategic energy reserves to ease the supply pressure on the market. Releasing oil from reserves is considered a way to meet a shortfall temporarily.

The US Department of Energy has approved an exchange of up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil from the strategic reserve to address a supply problem at a refinery in Louisiana.

With oil at a six-month high, attention is now fixed on the situation in the Middle East. If supply concerns do not ease, volatility may persist in energy markets in the coming days, and any fresh tension could push prices higher still.