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Global crude futures rose on Friday, ending the week sharply higher as renewed US–Iran military clashes and record retail diesel prices compounded global energy supply concerns.

International benchmark Brent crude rose 76 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $96.28 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 18 cents, or 0.2%, to close at $91.48 a barrel.

Over the week, Brent advanced 7.6% while WTI rallied nearly 10%, driven by persistent maritime bottlenecks across the Persian Gulf.

Upstream momentum remained anchored by regional geopolitical escalation as Washington and Tehran traded their heaviest direct strikes since July in the conflict's seventh month. Commercial transit through the Strait of Hormuz remained severely restricted, with preliminary data showing only four commodity vessels transited on Thursday—well below the 10-day baseline of 15.

Supply pressures were reinforced by severe product market dislocations. Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries alongside Middle Eastern outages propelled US retail diesel to an all-time high of $5.85 per gallon, prompting ANZ and Citi to lift their crude forecasts to $95 and $86 a barrel, respectively.

However, sharper crude advances were checked by macroeconomic headwinds after solid US August payroll data (up 162,000) spurred expectations of further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, alongside steady market absorption of discounted Iraqi workaround crude flows.

Written by: Aiman Haikal