Oil hit its highest level in more than six months on Friday as fears of fresh escalation in the Middle East conflict gripped energy markets. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose by about 3.5% on Friday to pass $117 a barrel at one point — its highest level since April — The Guardian reported.

Source: The Guardian

Reuters' later market update on Friday put Brent at $117.18 a barrel at 16:22 GMT. The move extends Thursday's 4% jump, when Brent settled at $113.17 a barrel, its highest close since May, according to the Associated Press.

Source: Reuters

The Brent increase followed Tehran threatening retaliatory attacks on Gulf refineries and data centres, The Guardian reported. The threat is Tehran's stated position; no such retaliatory attack had been confirmed in the reporting reviewed.

Source: The Guardian

Yaani: one barrel holds about 159 litres of crude. At $117 a barrel, crude is at its most expensive since April — in plain terms, costlier crude pushes up petrol, diesel, air fares and freight charges, and that reaches the household budgets of the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers in the Gulf too.

Source: The Guardian