Brent crude nears $100 a barrel as U.S.-Iran tit-for-tat strikes stoke supply worries

FILE PHOTO: Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. Hamad I Mohammed | ReutersOil prices rose Wednesday as escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran fuel concerns over further disruptions to Middle East energy supplies.U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures for October delivery jumped 1.75% to $94.66 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude, the international benchmark, added 1.55% to $99.44 a barrel.The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian crude tankers Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on an American warship. The U.S. warship successfully evaded Iranian attack and no American personnel were harmed, Centcom said in a statement. The escalation in the U.S.-Iran conflict, now in its seventh month, is raising the risk of oil prices surging above $120 a barrel as attacks on shipping intensify, according to Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs."It's definitely plausible," Struyven told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" when asked whether oil could reach $120 a barrel. Goldman's base case remains for Persian Gulf exports to gradually recover as producers adapt to disruptions, including through alternative shipping routes ...