Oil surged above $64 a barrel today as rocket attacks in the Middle East and protests in Ecuador impacted on prices.
Oil tumbled earlier this week on signs record crude prices were firing inflation and dampening company earnings.
But news today that at least two missiles targeted, but missed, US ships docked in Jordan's port of Aqaba sent prices higher. Israel's city of Eilat was also hit.
Jordanian officials said one Jordanian soldier was killed and another injured in the attack. Jordan is not a crude oil exporter.
A halt in Ecuador's oil exports had already set the market on a recovery track.
Iran's decision to press on with its nuclear programme in defiance of the West was at the back of traders' minds. The move has put Opec's second biggest producer at odds with the United Nations nuclear watchdog and at risk of sanctions.
US crude was up $1.13 at $64.40 a barrel this afternoon while London Brent rose $1.10 to $63.50 a barrel.
Prices have averaged over $53 a barrel this year. In 1980, the year after the Iranian revolution, prices averaged an inflation-adjusted $82 a barrel.
Although world crude oil inventories remain relatively robust, supply disruptions have traders on alert, including below-par production in India and the North Sea after outages last month.
Opec, pumping at its highest rate in a quarter century, has little spare capacity to make up any shortfalls.
Ecuador worsened the lost supply by halting exports of about 144,000 barrels per day, most of which go to the United States, due to protests in Amazon provinces over the level of investment from foreign operators.