Oil Jumps as Libyan Call to Halt Sales Compounds Mideast Tension
- East Libya government targets oil in fight over central bank
- Israel launches warplanes in pre-emptive strike on Hezbollah
Smoke billows from an area targeted by an Israeli airstrike between the southern Lebanese border villages of Zibqin and Yater on August 25.
Photographer: Kawnat Haju/AFP/Getty Images
Oil advanced after Libya’s eastern government said it will halt exports, building on tensions in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon raised concerns of a broader conflict.
West Texas Intermediate rose 3.5% to settle above $77 a barrel. Officials in Libya’s eastern government called to halt all oil production and exports as a political tussle over control of the country’s central bank deepened. The eastern government called a “force majeure” that applies to all fields, terminals and oil facilities, authorities said Monday in a statement on Facebook.