WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After turning lower over the course of the previous session, the price of crude oil showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Friday.
Crude for February delivery surged $1.62 or 2.2 percent to $73.81 a barrel after falling $0.51 or 0.7 percent to $72.19 a barrel during Thursday's session.
The significant rebound by the price of crude oil partly reflected ongoing fears of an escalation of the Israel-Hamas war into a broader regional conflict.
Attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels against merchant shipping in the Red Sea as well as a U.S. airstrike that killed top leader of an Iran-backed terrorist group in Iraq added to the concerns.
Daan Struyven, head of Goldman Sachs' oil research division, warned in an interview with CNBC on Thursday that Houthi rebel disruptions reaching the Straits of Hormuz could double oil prices.
'The Red Sea is a transit route and a prolonged disruption there, oil can be three or four dollars higher,' Struyven said. 'However, if you have a disruption in the Strait of Hormuz for a month, prices would rise by 20 percent and could even eventually double if the disruption there lasted for longer.'
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