Oil prices jumped nearly 6% during Thursday trading, sending both benchmark crude contracts above $100 a barrel as attacks on ships and energy facilities in the Middle East intensified and fears of further supply disruptions grew in an already undersupplied market.
Crude prices hit their highest level in about four months
Brent crude futures stood at about $107.05 a barrel at the time of publication, up 5.8%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose by roughly the same percentage to $101.58 after breaking above $100 for the first time since May.
Brent had closed at $101.21 a barrel on Wednesday, while U.S. crude settled at $96.05, before gains accelerated during Thursday trading and lifted both contracts to their highest levels in about four months.
Brent prices have risen more than 30% from their early-August lows as efforts to reach a lasting agreement to end the war between the United States and Iran have stalled and attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz have resumed.
Risks spread to the Red Sea and energy facilities
Fears grew after Iran-aligned Houthi forces seized the Yemeni coastal city of Mokha, creating a new threat to shipping through the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, while tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained limited amid intensifying attacks in recent days.
Simon Peter Masabni, director of business development at X.com, said Houthi attacks on Saudi energy facilities had added a new source of risk, as the potential for disruption was no longer confined to Hormuz but had extended to export routes, oil production sites and energy infrastructure.
The escalation came after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Iran's Peakaks Mountain site, near the Natanz nuclear facility, could be targeted, and said the war could continue beyond the congressional midterm elections scheduled for November.
Iran said on Wednesday that it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the United States targeted 5 Iranian oil tankers. Iran's Revolutionary Guard warned that it would escalate its response if the United States launched new attacks, heightening concerns about the security of regional supplies.
Chinese purchases recover as demand forecasts are cut
S&P Global Energy said diminishing prospects for a decisive resolution to the crisis were prompting crude markets to prepare for what it described as a “new and prolonged normal,” in which supply-disruption risks would remain persistent rather than emerge intermittently.
Analysts at ING said China, the world's largest crude importer, had stepped up purchases in recent weeks after months of weak demand, supporting the physical market. They added that a continued recovery in China would amplify the impact of any supply shortfall, while a decline in imports could limit price gains.
By contrast, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, cut its forecast for global demand growth in 2026 for a fifth consecutive time, to 380,000 barrels per day, putting expected consumption at 105.84 million barrels per day.
