By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped as much as 4 percent on Thursday, boosted by a rally in U.S. gasoline on worries about potential damage to oil installations from a hurricane headed for the U.S. East Coast, traders said.
Heightened geopolitical risk from the worsening war in Syria also boosted crude futures in earlier trade.
U.S. crude rose $1.76, or 3.9 percent, to $46.86 a barrel by 9:40 a.m. EDT (1340 GMT) after hitting a one-week high of $47.10.
Brent, the global benchmark for oil, was up $1.25, or 2.5 percent, at $49.62 a barrel.
Weather forecasters said Hurricane Joaquin could hit the New York metropolitan area as a tropical storm on Tuesday, potentially following the destructive course of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Traders watch Atlantic hurricanes because they can lead to precautionary shutdowns of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platforms, and in exceptional cases damage energy infrastructure.
(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in London and Henning Gloystein; Editing by Susan Thomas, David Clarke and Jeffrey Benkoe)
