Oil Edges Higher on Iran Strike Options Report and Storm Impact

(Bloomberg) -- Oil edged higher 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 storm shut some US output.

West Texas Intermediate gained toward $89 a barrel, while Brent closed near $100. The report in The Atlantic 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.

Meanwhile, oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico have shut in more than 510,000 barrels a day of crude production in response to Tropical Storm Isaias, according to figures from the Marine Minerals Administration. That is the equivalent of about a quarter of output in the region.

Crude has rallied sharply this year as the US-Iran conflict roiled exports, draining global energy inventories and fueling a pickup in inflation. While flows from the Middle East have expanded in recent weeks, there has also been a surge in vessel attacks, including a strike on a tanker in the waters off Qatar, with casualties reported.

Elsewhere in the region, Iranian-backed Houthis hit targets in Saudi Arabia, prompting a wave of strikes by the Riyadh-led coalition against sites in Yemen.