HONG KONG - Oil surged more than five percent on Thursday and stocks sank as Iran carried out a series of attacks on Gulf energy facilities and warned of more following a strike on one of its key gas fields.
After spending much of Wednesday hovering around $100, crude soared as Tehran threatened to target regional installations in reply to what it said was an Israeli hit on a site serving its massive South Pars field, which it shares with Qatar.
Abu Dhabi later shut down operations at a gas facility due to falling debris from missile interceptions, while Qatar's Ras Laffan site was hit, with QatarEnergy saying emergency teams had been "deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires".
Iranian state television later said Thursday that a missile struck the site again, which QatarEnergy said caused extensive damage.
Qatar has ordered several Iranian diplomats to leave the country.
Meanwhile, the UN nuclear watchdog said Iranian authorities had reported a projectile impact at the country's only operational nuclear power plant but that it caused no damage.
"We warn you once again that you made a big mistake in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic republic," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
"If it is repeated again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed."
Brent spiked more than five percent to hit a peak of $112.86, while West Texas Intermediate was sitting around $99.
The increased tension hit equities, which had enjoyed a broadly positive start to the week thanks to a fresh rally in tech firms.
Tokyo and Seoul, which had been the best performers between the start of the year and the start of the war, both sank more than two percent.
Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Taipei, Wellington and Jakarta were also well down.
Markets have been hammered since the US-Israel attacks on Iran on February 28 that sparked a wave of retaliatory strikes across the Gulf by Tehran. The Islamic republic also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas flows.
That has sent crude soaring, stoking fears of another surge in inflation.