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EMEA Oil Update: Crude Oil Futures Soar Taking Murban to Highest Ever Price

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Crude oil futures surged on Thursday, with Brent hitting multi-month highs and Murban hitting a record level as Houthi militant attacks on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and a still-shuttered Strait of Hormuz feeding fears of prolonged disruption to energy.

Brent crude futures climbed over 6% to $99.80 per barrel, while Murban crude futures soared more than 22% to $109.72/bbl.

The Murban futures hit an all-time high earlier in the session at $114.92 per barrel while Brent futures hit their highest since May 26.

"Iran-backed Houthi militants claimed responsibility for striking two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, prompting more vessels to divert from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and creating what analysts describe as a two-chokepoint problem for oil," Saxo Bank analysts said.

"The result was a fresh risk premium in crude and a renewed market focus on inflation," they said.

Meanwhile, US Central Command pushed back against claims by Iran's military that it controlled the Strait of Hormuz, asserting via social media that the international waterway remains open for transit.

"Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz," US Centcom posted on X.

However, markets are heavily pricing in the probability of supply interruption across critical energy corridors, analysts noted.

"Oil prices are increasingly shaped not only by observed fundamentals but by what the market believes fundamentals will look like over the next 6-12 months," ANZ analysts noted.

Ahmad Assiri, research strategist at Pepperstone, pointed out that these higher energy costs are feeding back into the broader inflation outlook, adding that physical disruption does not require a complete halt to Gulf exports to tighten the market.

Reduced vessel traffic, shipping delays, and rerouting are already sufficient to constrain effective global supply, the research strategist added.

Attention has also expanded beyond the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab al-Mandab strait, a vital route accounting for nearly 12% of global trade, where traffic flow has now been stifled by Houthi threats to attack ships, with reports that it has already followed through.

Reuters reported Yemen's Houthi movement targeted two Saudi oil tankers, with UK Maritime Trade Operations confirming that the Saudi-flagged tanker Encelia was struck in the Red Sea.

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