LONDON — Oil prices rose sharply on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump renewed warnings against Iran, stoking fears of military action that could disrupt global crude supplies, while Kazakhstan faces ongoing production outages.
Brent crude for March delivery climbed $1.68, or 2.6%, to $65.74 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose $1.63, or 2.8%, to $60.99. Both benchmarks are on track for weekly gains of roughly 2.5%.
Trump said the U.S. has an “armada” heading toward the Middle East, including warships and an aircraft carrier, while urging Iran not to restart its nuclear program or crack down further on protesters. Although he expressed hope the forces would not need to be used, the comments added to geopolitical uncertainty.
Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest oil producer at 3.2 million barrels per day, is a major exporter to China, raising concerns about potential supply disruptions.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oilfield, one of the world’s largest, remains offline following a fire, further tightening global supply. Chevron, the operator, has yet to resume production, and JP Morgan warned output could remain down for the rest of January, reducing Kazakhstan’s crude output to roughly 1–1.1 million barrels per day from a usual 1.8 million bpd.
The combination of geopolitical tensions and production outages has traders on edge, driving oil prices higher and highlighting vulnerabilities in global energy supply.
