Global oil prices rose by 3% after Iran's strike on a US airbase. The escalation occurred against the backdrop of a six-week decline in raw material inventories in the United States.
Oil prices jumped by more than 3% on Thursday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that they had struck a U.S. airbase in response to a U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
Brent crude futures rose by $3.51, or 3.72%, to $97.8 per barrel by 03:44 GMT (06:44 Kyiv time), while the more active August contract rose by $3.35, or 3.63%, to $95.6. The July contract expires on Friday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by $3.31, or 3.73%, to $91.99.
Both benchmarks had fallen by more than 5%, reaching their lowest levels in a month during the previous session amid the possibility of a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said on Thursday it had struck a U.S. airbase following what it called a morning U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Kuwait, which hosts a large U.S. base, said it was responding to missile and drone attacks without specifying exactly where they were launched from. Israel, which is fighting Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, also reported sirens sounding due to hostile aircraft activity in northern Israel.
