Oil prices rose by more than two dollars a barrel on Thursday after Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for energy supplies, following air strikes launched by the United States.
اضافة اعلان
Brent crude futures climbed $2.30, or 2.47%, to $95.40 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $2.60, or 2.89%, to reach $92.63. Earlier in the session, U.S. crude futures had surged by more than $3.
The armed forces in Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers and commercial vessels, stating that any ship attempting to pass would be fired upon.
However, the U.S. military stated that commercial vessels continue to pass through the strait. It denied that any of its warships had been targeted in the strait, following reports by Iranian state media claiming that U.S. ships near the waterway were bombarded with missiles and drones.
U.S. forces began launching additional strikes on multiple targets in Iran at 5:15 PM EST (2115 GMT Wednesday), in the latest escalation of retaliatory attacks. This threatens to reignite a full-scale war, which had temporarily paused in early April when both sides agreed to a fragile ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday that crude oil inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels to 426.5 million barrels in the week ending June 5, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4-million-barrel drop.
U.S. oil inventories, including those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, have decreased by about 79 million barrels since the outbreak of the war with Iran on February 28, as the world's largest producer intervened to compensate for supply shortages caused by the effective closure of the strait. – (Reuters)
