Brent crude trades above $108 and WTI tops $103 as intensifying tanker threats and shipping chokepoint risks drive a 13% weekly rally
LONDON/SINGAPORE — Global crude benchmarks pushed higher on Friday, putting oil on course to close above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May as mounting threats to Middle Eastern shipping corridors intensified supply disruption risks.
Brent crude futures climbed 81 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $108.44 a barrel by 03:45 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 69 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $103.17 a barrel. The advance followed a sharp rally on Thursday, when both contracts jumped more than 6 percent in a single session.
The contracts were tracking a weekly gain of nearly 13 percent, registering their sharpest five-day surge since the week ending July 17.
Physical logistics rather than speculative flows drove the turnaround. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—the vital transit corridor through which roughly a fifth of global petroleum consumption passes—faces growing restrictions following repeated security incidents targeting merchant vessels. Instability flared along the Red Sea corridor after Houthi forces seized Yemen’s Red Sea port of Mocha, heightening maritime hazards along western approaches.
Energy infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula came under renewed pressure following attacks directed at Saudi oil installations, broadening geopolitical risk premiums well beyond Iranian coastal waters.
A sustained breach of the three-digit threshold marks a sharp departure from summer trading ranges, when concerns over slowing industrial demand had kept prices contained below $90. Sustained triple-digit crude prices will reignite inflationary pressures across major net energy importers throughout Asia and Europe, complicating monetary easing trajectories for central banks.
