Oil rises above $85

Oil rose yesterday touching a fresh four-year high as the market focused on upcoming US sanctions on Iran and shrugged off a surprisingly big build in US crude stockpiles and reports of higher Saudi Arabian and Russian production. “Nothing matters between here and Nov. 4,” said Bob Yawger, director of futures at Mizuho in New York, referring to the date when US sanctions take full effect. “You just had the biggest draw this year, and the market rallied right through it.”

US crude inventories jumped 8 million barrels last week, quadruple analysts’ expectations and the biggest build since March 2017. Brent crude LCOc1 rose 78 cents to $85.58 a barrel by 11:09 a.m. EDT (1509 GMT), hitting its highest since November 2014. US crude CLc1 was up 55 cents at $75.78 a barrel.