The country’s exports mostly come from Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. But Israel’s energy facilities are also at risk.

Oil prices surged, stocks dropped and investors flocked to safe havens like gold on Friday after tensions between Israel and Iran escalated, stoking concerns of a broader conflict in the region.

Fears that Israel may destroy Iranian oil facilities to deprive it of its main source of revenue have driven oil prices higher.

The Iran shock presents two risks to the price of oil, which rose 8 per cent to $74 a barrel on Friday morning, a sizeable jump for a single day. The first is that, in the context of the rising hostilities, Iran’s current crude exports, which have already been softening, could fall further.

Iran has in the past threatened to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz if it is attacked. The Strait is the exit route from the Middle East Gulf for around 20% of the world's oil supply, including Saudi, UAE, Kuwaiti, Iraqi and Iranian exports.

Iran has partially suspended gas production at the world's biggest gas field after an Israeli strike caused a fire there on Saturday, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, in what would be the first Israeli strike on Iran's oil and gas sector.

Gas prices "will likely start to rise across much of the country later this evening in response to Israel's attacks on Iran, which have caused oil prices to surge," Patrick de Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Friday in a post on X.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Dual risks kept investors on edge ahead of markets reopening late on Sunday, from heightened prospects of a broad Middle East war to U.S.-wide protests against U.S. President Donald Trump that threatened more domestic chaos.