Oil Prices Remain High with Threats on Middle East Export Facilities
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Oil prices rose yesterday as investors’ focus returned to threats facing Middle East oil facilities, despite US President Donald Trump’s call for nations to help safeguard the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global energy shipments.
Nigeria’s benchmark, Brent crude futures, climbed $1.27, or 1.2 per cent, to $104.41 a barrel, after settling up $2.68 on Friday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 54 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $99.25 a barrel, after settling up nearly $3 in the previous session.
Both contracts have surged more than 40 per cent this month to their highest since 2022, after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to halt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, choking off a fifth of global oil supply in the biggest disruption ever.
While the US weekend strikes appeared to have targeted military, rather than energy, infrastructure, they still pose supply risks since Iranian oil is about the only oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz for now, a Reuters report said.
Over the weekend, Trump threatened further strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island, which handles about 90 per cent of its exports, after hitting military targets there, to spur a defiant response of more retaliation from Tehran.
Iranian drones hit a key oil terminal in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates shortly after the Kharg attacks. Oil loading operations at Fujairah have since resumed, four sources said, but it was unclear if they were back to normal.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE’s flagship Murban crude oil – a volume equal to about 1 per cent of world demand.
On Sunday, Trump said he was demanding that other countries help to protect the key energy route, adding that Washington was in talks with several nations about policing it.
The US is also in contact with Iran, Trump said, but expressed doubt that Tehran was prepared for serious talks to end the conflict. At the weekend, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said more than 400 million barrels of oil reserves will begin flowing to the market soon, a record draw aimed at combating price spikes caused by the Middle East war.
