Oil prices spike after US gives Iran nuclear deadline

Oil prices surged higher on Friday after Washington set the weekend as a deadline for key crude producer Iran to reply to an international offer of incentives for a freeze in its nuclear drive.

“We expect a response this weekend,” Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, told AFP without specifying Saturday or Sunday.

In reaction, New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, leapt as high as 128.60 dollars per barrel, before pulling back to stand at 126.76, up 2.68 dollars from Thursday’s close.

AFP