Oil prices on the global market accelerated their rise on Thursday evening, with the price of a barrel of "Brent" crude exceeding $97.
"PostMedia" reports, citing "Interfax", that January "Brent" futures on the London "ICE Futures" exchange rose by $2.5, or 2.64%, to $97.12 per barrel as of 18:45 Moscow time.
December futures for WTI crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) climbed by $1.99, or 2.26%, to $90.11 at the same time.
A day earlier, "Brent" had fallen by 8.7% and WTI by 8.3%. The drop came amid reports of a decisive Democratic Party victory in the US congressional midterm elections held on Tuesday. The Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress.
US President Donald Trump acknowledged that the Republicans' defeat was largely linked to the conflict in the Middle East. He also said that rising gasoline prices had strongly influenced the outcome of the vote. At the same time, Trump did not say that he intends to step up the military campaign against Tehran in the near future.
"Markets are assessing the impact of the midterm elections on Trump's next steps regarding Iran and expect the likelihood of an end to the war to increase," said June Goh, senior oil analyst at "Sparta Commodities".
"However, we face a lot of volatility ahead, as the road to a final diplomatic end to the war is full of numerous unknowns, while the world's strategic fuel reserves have been significantly depleted," he added.
Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that fires broke out on two oil tankers and a tugboat on Thursday. According to the IRGC, the vessels tried to pass through the Strait of Hormuz along a route that Tehran had not authorized.
The statement said that overnight a large oil tanker traveling along the strait's southern fairway near Oman struck a mine and caught fire. A second supertanker caught fire as it was leaving the strait. A tugboat sent to extinguish the fire was also engulfed in flames.
