Trump says United States has secured control of Strait of Hormuz
Oil prices rose Friday, rebounding from declines earlier in the session, as traders weighed continued disruptions to Middle Eastern oil shipments against prospects for U.S.-Iran diplomacy. Front-month Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to $96.43 a barrel in early European trading, while front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.2% to $88.89 a barrel.
Thursday’s gains came after President Trump said Washington no longer needed an agreement with Iran, raising questions about the prospects for negotiations. Trump also said in a Truth Social post that the U.S. had secured control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Recovering Middle Eastern production had eased immediate supply concerns, ING analysts said, although reliance on alternative export routes continued to leave shipments vulnerable to disruption; the pace at which traffic through the Strait of Hormuz returns to normal remains a key factor for oil prices, they said. Oil markets may be pricing in the prospect of diplomatic progress before additional supplies become available, according to Terri-Leigh Bennett, chief operating officer at CMS Prime. Negotiations wouldn’t immediately restore damaged infrastructure, normalize shipping routes or guarantee uninterrupted production, she said.
The Bahrain-based Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational maritime security monitoring body, said in an advisory distributed Thursday by U.K. Maritime Trade Operations that it had recorded 181 maritime security incidents in the Middle East region since March 1, of which four were recorded since the center’s previous report, published Sunday.
The International Energy Agency was scheduled to publish its November oil-market report later Friday, with updated estimates of global supply, demand and inventories.