Oil prices flipped lower on Thursday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference that his country would help the US reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has fallen to a near-standstill.
The comments came after a wave of new escalatory attacks by Iran and Israel targeted key energy infrastructure throughout the Gulf, with price action only slightly slowed by comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggesting the US may remove sanctions on Iranian crude.
Futures on Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, soared through Wednesday night and Thursday morning to briefly cross $119 per barrel for the second time since the war began. Futures on US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude (CL=F) moved up to hold around $97 per barrel.
As Netanyahu spoke, Brent and WTI gave up those gains to trade above $104 and near $93 per barrel, respectively.
Over the past 24 hours, Middle Eastern energy infrastructure has come increasingly under fire, crossing what was previously seen as a red line in the conflict and marking a new height of escalation in the war in Iran.
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The newest wave of action began on Wednesday with strikes by Israel on Iran’s South Pars gas field — the Iranian section of the largest natural gas reserve in the world, which the regime shares with Qatar. Axios has reported that the US was aware of Israel’s intent to target the field, though President Trump denied having knowledge of the attack in a Truth Social post.
Following the strikes on South Pars, Iran published a target list of energy infrastructure in the region and ordered evacuations from the sites. In the hours since, the regime has targeted Saudi Arabia’s SAMREF refinery, which is co-owned by Saudi Aramco (2223.SR) and Exxon Mobil (XOM); taken two gas facilities in the UAE offline; and struck two refineries in Kuwait.
The most prominent of those targets, Qatar’s Las Raffan LNG export terminal — the largest in the world — was reported to have sustained “extensive damage” by QatarEnergy early Thursday morning, adding to damage earlier in the conflict that pushed QatarEnergy to declare force majeure on shipments from the export complex.
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In commentary on Thursday, Rystad Energy said that if Iran’s full list of potential targets throughout the Gulf were to come to fruition, oil prices would be very likely to hit $120 per barrel — which Brent crude came within less than $1 overnight.
