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Oil prices rose more than 3% after escalating tensions in the Middle East
Oil prices rose more than 3% on Thursday after Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced it had struck a US air base in response to a US attack near Bandar Abbas airport.
Brent crude futures rose $3.51, or 3.72%, to $97.80 a barrel, while the most active contract for August gained $3.35, or 3.63%, to $95.60 a barrel. The July contract expires on Friday. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $3.31, or 3.73%, to $91.99 a barrel.
In the previous session, both indices had fallen by more than 5%, touching a one-month low, amid expectations of a US-Iran deal that would lead to an end to the conflict and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the Iranian Tasnim news agency, the Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that they had targeted a US air base after a US strike carried out in the early hours of the morning near Bandar Abbas airport.
Iranian authorities warned that any repetition of what they called aggression would bring a "more determined" response.
A US official told Reuters that the US military launched new strikes on Iran, striking a military target that was considered a threat to US forces and to commercial maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.
"Oil supplies remain tight and key sticking points have yet to be resolved ," Daniel Hynes, commodities analyst at ANZ, said in a note.
In the US, crude oil inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, marking the sixth consecutive week of decline, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute.
Official data on reserves from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to be released on Thursday, a day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.
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