In Reply to: It was a great Tuesday. Then I read the news* posted by mh on September 08, 2026 at 10:08:49
Brent, the international oil benchmark, touched $99 per barrel Tuesday after Saudi Arabia reported an attack on energy assets that caused temporary pauses in operations.
By mid-morning, Brent was trading higher by more than 1% around $98.30 per barrel. U.S. crude oil also rose by more than 2% to about $93.50 per barrel. Wholesale gas prices rose more than 3%.
The latest escalation came after the U.S. on Sunday struck three Iranian oil tankers, sinking one of the vessels. The strikes came after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward U.S. Navy ships.
The renewed hostilities have kept Strait of Hormuz traffic at a minimum, with just four ships passing through the waterway Saturday, followed by six passings Sunday. Before the war, the strait carried more than 20% of the world’s energy supply as that oil shipped to ports around the globe.
Meanwhile, vessel traffic in the equally important Bab el Mandeb strait, located between the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa, was slightly compressed from the previous week. According to figures from MarineTraffic, vessel transits fell 16% from the prior week, although overall traffic of more than 260 ships last week was still significantly higher than in the Strait of Hormuz.