Brent crude futures rose $3.35, or 3.08 per cent, to $112.17 a barrel after touching $112.55 earlier in the session, the highest level since May 18. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also gained $2.68, or 2.76 per cent, to reach $99.83 a barrel.
PVM Oil analyst Tamas Varga said diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East lacked credibility. He noted that attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, along with Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and its oil infrastructure, continued to threaten regional supplies despite reports of recovering crude exports.
Varga added that oil prices could remain elevated until the US midterm elections, as he saw little prospect of de-escalation in the near term.
Morgan Stanley analysts estimated that Middle Eastern crude oil exports reached around 17 million barrels per day last week.
On Wednesday, Yemen’s Houthis attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia. The strikes killed at least one person and injured eight others at a civilian airport in Dammam, while a drone attack on a Saudi oil field killed two people.
Meanwhile, Iranian media reported explosions in Sirik, southern Iran, on Wednesday but said the cause and origin remained unclear.
On Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said its forces had tracked and struck four vessels allegedly involved in illegal oil transfers in the northern Gulf on Wednesday. The vessels caught fire following the strikes.
