The Israel-Hamas conflict expands to energy facilities, the U.S. "may enter the war," oil prices continue to surge at the opening, gold rises, and U.S. stock futures decline

The situation in the Middle East has further escalated, igniting a global rush for safe-haven assets. Crude oil futures continue to soar, U.S. stock index futures opened lower, and spot gold fluctuated and rose.

According to CCTV News, on the 14th, two oil refineries in Bushehr Province, southern Iran, were attacked by Israeli airstrikes, with explosions and fires reported at the South Pars Refinery's Phase 14 project facilities, and the Fajr Jam Refinery also came under attack.

According to Xinhua News Agency, U.S. President Trump stated in an interview with ABC on the 15th that the U.S. is currently not involved in Israel's military strikes against Iran, but may "possibly" intervene in the future.

On Monday, June 16, WTI crude oil futures opened with a surge of 6%, while Brent crude oil futures rose about 5%, continuing Friday's astonishing increase of 7.3%, with the current increase narrowing to around 1.5%.

During Monday's early trading session in Asia, U.S. stock futures opened lower across the board, with Dow futures down 0.3%, and both S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.2%. As of the time of writing, the three major index futures have turned positive.

Spot gold fluctuated and rose, increasing by about 0.3%, trading around $3,450 per ounce, just about $50 short of the historical high set in April.

The Israel-Iran conflict expands to energy facilities, escalating sharply

Wall Street Journal previously mentioned that Israel's attack on Iran's largest natural gas field on Sunday marks Israel's first direct strike on Iranian energy infrastructure and the first attack on an oil refinery within Iran since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.

Rystad Energy analyst Jorge Leon warned:

“This could be the most severe attack on oil and gas infrastructure since the Abqaiq attack.”

The 2019 attack on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil facilities temporarily shut down half of the country's oil production capacity, causing significant fluctuations in international oil prices.

The core concern of the market is that the conflict between the two sides may further escalate, jeopardizing the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic passage carries one-third of the world's oil transportation, and any blockade would have a catastrophic impact on global energy supply On Saturday, Kowsari, a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran, issued a warning that Iran is considering closing the Strait of Hormuz.

So far, the attacks have been relatively limited, but due to the potential for losses to expand, oil prices have already risen, and the fighting has affected tanker transportation and supply flows.

According to media reports, several tankers that were originally scheduled to load crude oil at Iran's main oil export port, Kharg Island, have delayed their arrival. This port is responsible for the export of most of Iran's daily crude oil production of 1.5 million barrels.

Analysts believe that Israel is attempting to limit the impact and chain reaction on international markets at least at this stage. Whether this "limited escalation" strategy can be sustained entirely depends on the intensity of Iran's response.