Oil Hits a Five-Month High as Libya Clashes Add to Supply Concerns

Crude in New York closes at the highest level in five months
WTI prompt spread’s shift to backwardation ignites more buying

Fighting in Libya is raising the risk of new oil supply outages with Brent surging. Ramy Inocencio reports.(Source: Bloomberg)

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By Alex Nussbaum and Jessica Summers

April 7, 2019 at 10:48 PM UTC

Updated on

April 8, 2019 at 7:26 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Oil spiked to its highest level in five months as a drop in the U.S. dollar and conflicts from Iran to Libya helped make the barrel look like an increasingly strong bet for investors.

Crude futures rallied 2.1 percent in New York Monday. The dollar fell, improving the lure of commodities priced in the greenback. Meanwhile, fighter jets bombed the Tripoli airport in Libya and U.S. President Donald Trump said he would designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group, escalating tensions in two of the world’s biggest producers.