US oil companies surge as Israel-Iran conflict sends crude prices soaring

U.S.-listed shares of oil companies climb pre-market after oil prices jumped, hitting their highest price in almost five months as Israel struck Iran, dramatically escalating tensions in the Middle East and raising worries about disrupted oil supplies.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 jump $4.24, or 6.1%, to $73.60 a barrel by 0817 GMT after hitting an intraday high of $78.50, the highest since January 27

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 up $4.30, or 6.32%, at $73.34 a barrel after hitting $77.62, the highest since January 21

US oil majors Exxon MobilXOM.N and Chevron CVX.N jump 3.7% and 3.5%, respectively

Oil and gas producers ConocoPhillips COP.N, Devon Energy DVN.N, EOG Resources EOG.N, Occidental Petroleum OXY.N and Diamondback Energy FANG.O climb between 4.23% and ~6%

Top oilfield services firms Baker Hughes BKR.O, SLB SLB.N and Halliburton HAL.N jump between 3.5% and 5.3%

Israel said it targeted Iran's nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders on Friday at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon

"We would anticipate that Iran will look to attack Israel directly and to expand to target regional infrastructure in order to bring pressure from Western powers on Israel to back down – this could see the shutting off of the Strait of Hormuz which would disrupt 20 mmbopd of oil flows, alongside LNG shipments" - Ashley Kelty, analyst with Panmure Liberum