Oil prices hit $100 for the first time since July - Businessday NG

Crude oil prices crossed the $100-per-barrel threshold on Monday for the first time since July 23, as renewed US-Iran hostilities and growing risks to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz intensified concerns over global oil supplies.

BusinessDay’s checks mid-Wednesday showed that Brent was trading at $100.6, West Texas Intermediate traded at $95.26. Meanwhile, Murban crude traded at $117.3.

The latest rally came after the United States struck three Iranian oil tankers over the weekend, escalating an already tense confrontation and raising the prospect of further disruption to oil shipments across the Middle East.

US Central Command (Centcom) said the strikes on M/T Downy, M/T Stark 1 and M/T Kylo were carried out after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted two US warships with ballistic missiles.

Admiral Brad Cooper said the strikes were intended to impose a greater economic cost on Iran.