Global oil prices topped $100 per barrel on Wednesday, with Brent Crude hitting its highest price point since late July, as the United States and Iran exchange airstrikes this week in the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent Crude, the marker for worldwide oil prices, rose about 3% on Wednesday morning to reach over $100 per barrel, a significant hit to the global energy market, which had hoped for barrel prices to remain under the three-figure mark. The global average price point per barrel has fluctuated throughout the U.S.-Iran war but has remained consistently elevated above approximately $72 per barrel, the level at the end of February before the conflict began.
Consistent airstrikes between the U.S. and Iran picked up again last week after a hiatus over the summer, with tensions escalating over the Strait of Hormuz this week. The crucial oil-shipping waterway has been a flashpoint throughout the war, with hostility in the strait typically bearing the biggest impact on global and U.S. oil markets during the course of the conflict.
On Tuesday, the U.S. said it targeted and destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers in response to the Iranians unsuccessfully targeting a U.S. Navy warship with two ballistic missiles. U.S. Central Command said in a statement that the tankers were part of the Iranian shadow fleet that helps fund the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“In response to Iran’s most recent failed attacks, CENTCOM destroyed the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island. American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable,” CENTCOM said.
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The Guard subsequently claimed on Wednesday that it targeted and damaged U.S. warships and other vessels in the region in response, but CENTCOM denied that any of these strikes were successful, saying “no U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed.”
CENTCOM said in the update that it has destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in the past week.