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Brent Tops $100 After Red Sea Shipping Attacks

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Brent Tops $100 After Red Sea Shipping Attacks

Brent crude futures crossed the $100 mark Thursday for the first time since May after the US-Iran conflict widened with attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Brent rose 6.6% to $100.25 a barrel in Thursday trade, while West Texas Intermediate was up 6.1% at $92.11 a barrel. Brent was on track for a fourth consecutive weekly gain.

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea that violated its naval blockade of Saudi ports, news outlets reported.

An unknown projectile struck a tanker 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said Wednesday. No casualties were reported, according to the UKMTO notice.

These attacks prompted "more vessels to divert from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and creating what analysts describe as a two-chokepoint problem for oil," Saxo Bank said in a note Thursday. "The result was a fresh risk premium in crude and a renewed market focus on inflation."

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It is an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains effectively closed due to tensions between the US and Iran.

US President Donald Trump threatened "major military punishment" against Iran if its Houthi proxy continues attacking ships, according to his social media post on Thursday. The US Central Command said Wednesday it struck Iran for the 12th consecutive night.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it hit a US electronic warfare unit and an air traffic control tower at Kuwait's Al-Adiri base, Reuters reported Thursday.

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