Oil is up more than 2% this morning, with WTI trading above $80 a barrel.

At 8:30 am (Brasília time) this Friday (17), the September contract of WTI crude oil recorded a significant increase of 2.37% in New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), quoted at US$ 80.82/barrel. The September contract for Brent It advanced 2.10% in Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), trading at US$86.00/barrel. On the other hand, in the partial week, the fuel has accumulated gains of 13.18% and 13.16%, respectively. 

In the last trading session (16), WTI fell 0.82%, to US$ 78.95/barrel, while Brent closed down 0.85%, at US$ 84.23/barrel. 

In this trading session, fuel prices were driven by the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran in the Persian Gulf. According to sources close to Tehran, the Iranian administration was pressuring the Houthi paramilitary group in Yemen to close the Red Sea route if Washington attacked Iranian energy infrastructure.

During the night, Iran announced that new attacks had been carried out on US facilities in the Middle East, including the first direct bombing in Syria. In turn, the US Central Command reported that it had struck military targets in Tehran.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.