Oil prices jump following first attacks on Iranian production facilities | CNN Business

Oil and natural gas prices spiked Wednesday following reports of the first attacks on Iranian production facilities in the war, including the world’s biggest natural gas field. The incidents mark a major escalation in the conflict, which has so far largely spared Iran’s energy infrastructure. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 5% to near $109 a barrel. WTI, the US benchmark, rose 2.5% to $98 a barrel. Benchmark European natural gas prices, for deliveries in April, surged more than 7% at one point. Iran’s semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported Wednesday that some key facilities belonging to the country’s oil and natural gas industry, including refineries, were hit by US-Israeli strikes, with emergency services working to contain fires. Tasnim named South Pars, the world’s biggest natural gas field, and Asaluyeh, which has oil and petrochemical facilities. South Pars is shared with Qatar, which has already shut down the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant. Earlier in the war, Israel attacked a fuel depot in Tehran and on Friday the United States targeted military infrastructure on Iran’s Kharg island, but Wednesday’s strikes mark the f