Oil Prices Soared on Turkish-Kurdish Conflict

Oil prices surged Wednesday on supply concerns, stoked by a new round of Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and a growing belief that domestic oil inventories fell last week.

The new attacks came as oil investors awaited inventory data from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration. It is expected to show crude supplies fell by 1.3 million barrels last week, the sixth straight weekly decline.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.84 to settle at $95.97 a barrel Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose as high as $96.54, a one-month high.