Oil stocks rallied in premarket trading. Woodside Energy and United States Oil Fund LP rose 3%; Occidental, Devon, Apache, TotalEnergies, and ConocoPhillips rose 2%; BP, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum, Chevron, and Shell rose 1%.
Oil gained after a report that the White House asked the Pentagon to draw up strike options against Iran that could be executed before the midterm elections, and as a hurricane forced some US output to shut.
Brent climbed above $102 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate traded near $90. The report in Trump Might Order Another Iran Strike Before the Midterms cited two administration officials, and runs counter to a widespread assumption that President Donald Trump would hold off on escalating the conflict with Tehran before the polls next month.
The size and targets of the potential strikes, and whether the administration will proceed, are still being debated, The Atlantic said. A limited operation could be followed up by more substantial action after the midterms, it added.
Meanwhile, producers in the Gulf of Mexico shut in more than Tropical Storm Isaias Shuts 25% of Gulf Oil Production: MMA of crude output — about a quarter of supply in the region — in response to an approaching tropical storm, which then strengthened into a *ISAIAS BECOMES A HURRICANE :NHC. Isaias was expected to near the northern Gulf Coast on Friday night.