Oil prices rise after attack in Strait of Hormuz halts evacuation plan | US-Israel War on Iran

Brent crude is on the way after a cargo ship was attacked in the waterway.

Oil prices have soared after the United Nations maritime agency suspended its operation to evacuate ships stranded near the Strait of Hormuz following an attack on a cargo ship in the waterway.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose as much as 4 percent on Thursday after the International Maritime Organization suspended its evacuation plan amid renewed violence.

Brent futures for August delivery were at $74.89 a barrel as of 02:00 GMT, after falling below $72.48, their closing price the day before the United States and Israel started their war on Iran.

After falling sharply following the signing by the US and Iran of a memorandum of understanding to end the war last week, the price of Brent currently stands at about 3 percent above its pre-war level.

Asian markets opened on Friday, with key indexes in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan seeing significant losses.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 and Seoul’s Kospi both fell more than 3 percent in morning trade, while the Taiex fell nearly 1 percent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down about 1 percent.

The latest attacks in the strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas flows in peacetime, dashed hopes of a return to normalcy in the region after a recent recovery.

On Wednesday, 70 ships passed through the waterway, more than double the previous day and the highest daily total since March 1, according to ship-tracking platforms MarineTraffic and Kpler.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday that a cargo ship was hit by an “unknown projectile” on its starboard side while trying to cross a river near the coast of Oman.

Several media outlets, including The New York Times, CBS News and Reuters, cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying it was done by Iran.

Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which claims to have the right to operate ships, said after the attack that any ship trying to use channels outside of its “design” would not be guaranteed passage.

“The consequences of crossing illegal routes will be the responsibility of the owner, the driver, and the ship’s operator,” said the official at X.

June Goh, an oil market analyst at Sparta in Singapore, said the attack was a reminder to markets of the fragile peace amid the US-Iran conflict.

“There is a great need for tankers to come in and unload the high stocks in the upstream tanks to make it more efficient,” Goh told Al Jazeera.

“Therefore, road safety is very important to recover the lost values.”