SINGAPORE – Oil advanced after a tanker carrying Qatari crude was hit during a flare-up in attacks between the United States and Iran, straining a ceasefire and hampering shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude jumped as much as 1.9 per cent to US$73.39 a barrel, after closing below pre-war levels in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate was near US$70.
Among tit-for-tat assaults that started on June 26, the US over the weekend struck Iranian military targets near the vital waterway after Tehran attacked the tanker following an earlier strike on a container ship, with both sides blaming the other for breaching the ceasefire.
The two sides have agreed to halt strikes and meet on June 30 in Doha, Axios reported, citing unidentified US officials. It isn’t yet clear how oil shipments through the strait – which had picked up again following the interim agreement between the sides – were affected by the latest flare-up.
While traffic had increased and the US military’s Central Command said on June 27 that commercial vessel transit through the strait continued, some tankers have aborted exit attempts. Shipowners will likely remain wary of transits as hundreds of ships remain trapped in the Persian Gulf. BLOOMBERG
