Oil rallies to a 3-year high

Markets Insider

• Brent was up more than 1.5%, and West Texas Intermediate was up nearly 1% on Monday afternoon.
• Crude prices had been retreating early Monday, but seemed to reverse on new supply concerns.
• Follow oil prices in real time here.

Oil prices rallied to fresh three-year highs on Monday afternoon, erasing previous losses in a volatile day of trading.

Brent, the international benchmark surged 1.6% to $74.91 per barrel at 3:00 p.m. ET. West Texas Intermediate also soared, trading up nearly 1% to $68.88. Those levels haven't been seen since 2014.

Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate hit three-year highs last week, passing $70 and $68 a barrel respectively, after crude inventories fell much more than expected and reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia is targeting prices as high as $100 per barrel.

Prices dampened early Monday after Iran said OPEC may not extend supply cuts into next year if crude prices keep rising.

But new reports of falling crude inventories in the US and creeping concerns that President Donald Trump will slap sanctions on Iran propped prices back up.

WTI is up 14% this year while Brent is higher by 12%.