Oil prices surged Friday as thousands continued to riot against the government in Egypt, and unrest threatened to spread across the Middle East.
Benchmark oil rose $3.12, or 3.6 percent, to $88.76 a barrel in afternoon trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices shut up about $2 a barrel in less than half an hour at midday after the White House expressed its concern about the violence in Egypt.
Anxious traders pulled money from other assets to buy oil, gold and the dollar, which are considered safer risks during uncertain times.
The uprising in Egypt follows protests this month that forced out the president of Tunisia, who fled to Saudi Arabia. Anti-government protests have also rocked Lebanon and Yemen.
“I think it’s just kind of the feeling that this could continue to spread, or just the whole nervousness about the region, not that there’s any specific cutoff of supplies or anything like that,” said Tom Bentz, an analyst at BNP Paribas Commodity Futures.
Bentz said a lot will depend on what happens over the next few days. “Are we going to see a regime change? Are we looking at cutoffs of supplies? I think it’s just one of those things you have to watch closely,” he said.
