Oil rises amid growing doubts over a US-Iran deal - Sarmad
Oil prices rose on Wednesday morning as doubts over a potential agreement between the United States and Iran, along with attacks on two ships, heightened concerns about supply disruptions in the Middle East, despite data from the sector showing a rise in U.S. crude oil inventories.
Brent crude futures rose 72 cents, or 0.81 percent, to $89.63 per barrel by 00:53 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude increased 71 cents, or 0.85 percent, to $83.91.
Both benchmark crude contracts recorded gains of more than a dollar at Tuesday’s settlement, reaching their highest closing levels since July 31, and continued their upward momentum following a roughly 5 percent jump on Monday as hopes for a deal between Washington and Tehran faded.
The United States and the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi group announced separate attacks on two ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab strait on Tuesday.
Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary-General of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, stated on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the United States accepts Tehran’s conditions for ending the war, which include the release of frozen Iranian assets and the cessation of conflicts across the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza.
Regarding supply, a Reuters poll on Tuesday showed that U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories were expected to have declined last week.
However, market sources, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), said that U.S. crude oil inventories rose sharply in the week ending August 7, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell.
The sources noted that crude oil inventories increased by approximately 9.1 million barrels, while gasoline and distillate inventories dropped by 1.5 million barrels and 596,000 barrels, respectively, compared to the previous week.
Official figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, are scheduled to be released at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time (14:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
As for long-term supplies, the EIA expects a disruption of approximately 600,000 barrels per day in crude oil supplies from the Middle East to continue through the end of 2027.
