Crude oil extended its gains in after-hours trading on reports of Iran's preparations for an attack on Israel.

Crude oil futures ended Thursday slightly higher, but rose in after-hours trading following reports of Iran's preparations to attack Israel from within Iraqi territory in the coming days.

Israeli intelligence believes that Iran is preparing to launch attacks using drones and ballistic missiles through pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, as reported by Axios.

Such attacks would increase the likelihood of a strong retaliation from Israel, including targeting Iran's petroleum infrastructure.

Following this news, crude oil surged by 3%, but later retreated, now showing a slight increase of 2%. In regular trading, Nymex crude oil for December front-month delivery (CL1:COM) closed at $69.26 per barrel, up 0.9% from the previous month, while Brent crude for December front-month delivery (CO1:COM) closed at $73.16 per barrel, up 0.8% from the previous month.

On the other hand, Nymex natural gas futures (NG1:COM) for December saw a slight increase in after-hours trading due to reports of Iran preparing to attack Israel.

WTI prices in October rose by 1.6%, preventing a third consecutive decline, while Brent prices rose by 1.9%, but US-produced natural gas dropped by 7.4%.

China's manufacturing in October turned positive for the first time in six months, indicating the effectiveness of the government's economic stimulus measures, causing crude oil futures to already rise.

Likelihood of a drawdown in US crude and product inventories, and the potential for OPEC+ to once again postpone the production increase scheduled for December.

Furthermore, the possibility of OPEC+ postponing the production increase plan supported the market. Reuters reported on Wednesday that there is a possibility that the production increase could be decided as early as next week.

According to data released by the EIA, US oil production in August increased by 1.5% to 13.4 million barrels per day, surpassing the previous record of 13.31 million barrels per day set in December 2023, achieving the highest monthly record.

Texas's production in August hit a record high of 5.82 million barrels per day, an increase of 1.7%, while New Mexico's production reached a record high of 2.09 million barrels per day, up by 2.8%.