National Average Price for Regular Unleaded Current: $2.302; Month Ago: $2.159; Year Ago: $2.596. National Average Price for Diesel Current: $2.584; Month Ago: $2.450; Year Ago: $3.017.

Oil is heading for the longest run of weekly gains since October 2016 as global supplies tighten and on signs the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend output curbs past the end of March. Saudi Arabia on Thursday advised its nationals to leave Lebanon, fueling fears of a confrontation with Iran in a country long known for being a battleground for proxy wars in the Middle East. “Geopolitical risks have taken center stage in the oil market again,” said Jens Naervig Pedersen, senior analyst at Danske Bank A/S in Copenhagen. “The rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have raised concerns in the oil market of an imminent supply disruption.” Saudi Arabia said it plans to cut crude exports to all the regions it ships to next month. Shipments will fall by 120,000 barrels a day in December from November, a spokesman for the Energy Ministry said, without specifying what those levels would be. Bloomberg calculations from vessel-tracking data estimated flows in October at 6.989 million a day. Click Read More below for additional information.

Geopolitical tensions are affecting prices now and will lift crude higher if they persist, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview on Thursday. Meanwhile, trade disputes such as the one between U.S. and China that’s hurt investor sentiment recently are not unusual and won’t have “a direct impact on oil markets for now,” he said on Bloomberg Television in New Delhi. Crude has surged to levels last seen in 2014 as the risk of violent conflict grips the market and raises concerns over potential Middle East supply disruptions. Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia on Wednesday intercepted a missile attack by Yemeni rebels, who are seen as being supported by fellow group member Iran. That was after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Russia to expect an American missile barrage toward its ally, Syria. Click Read More below for additional information.