Brent crude climbed close to $92 a barrel on Monday, 20 July, as the United States carried out a tenth consecutive night of strikes on Iranian command centres, missile sites and air defences. The renewed fighting has entered its second week, part of a broader conflict now in its fifth month since hostilities first resumed in late February.
As of 3:22pm WAT today, Brent crude was trading at $91.20 a barrel, up 2.22 per cent on the day and its highest level since 10 June, while West Texas Intermediate, the main US benchmark, stood at around $84.77 a barrel. Brent, the international benchmark for roughly two-thirds of the world's oil, is priced off crude extracted from fields in the North Sea. WTI is priced off crude delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, and typically trades at a discount to Brent due to differences in quality and transport costs.
The latest surge followed Yemen's Houthi forces declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, opening a new front along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and targeting the Red Sea export route Saudi Arabia has relied on since tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed. A direct Iranian strike on a Kuwaiti oil facility on Saturday added a further supply-side shock. A full closure of the Bab el-Mandeb route could remove about seven per cent of global oil supply from the market.
Two tankers managed by Greek operator Dynacom were struck by projectiles off Oman on Monday, with one catching fire in its engine room before both crews were evacuated safely. Satellite tracking showed supertanker crossings near the Strait of Hormuz had fallen to about two a day, down from eight in late June.
US President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that Iran would face consequences for American casualties, warning that Tehran would pay "many times over," after the deaths of three US service members over the weekend brought the American death toll in the conflict to 17. The Pentagon reported nearly 100 troop injuries since 7 July, mostly minor, with 96 per cent of those affected already back on duty.
US gasoline prices rose to $4.003 a gallon nationally, up 13 cents in a week and back above $4 for the first time since a brief ceasefire in mid-June reopened the strait. Mediating countries have floated a possible 10-day ceasefire, even as fighting on the ground continues to escalate.