Oil Prices Soar Past $100 a Barrel Amid Middle East Tensions

The price of oil has surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since July after a wave of attacks on Middle East oil facilities and ships. The Brent crude, the international standard, jumped nearly 3% to $100.72 early Wednesday.

U.S. benchmark crude gained 2.4% to $95.25 a barrel, and U.S. gasoline prices rose sharply overnight. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline ticked up 7 cents overnight to hit $4.22, now more than a dollar above what it cost at this point last year.

Markets reacted after the U.S. military reported striking five Iranian tankers in response to attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship and after attacks by an Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group ignited fires at oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The fighting has halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil supply passed before the war began.