PERTH, Aug 10 — Oil prices rose today on uncertainty over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran said a deal with Oman defining new shipping lanes is in its final stages but insisted the United States must meet other conditions.
Brent crude futures rose 91 cents, or 1.09 per cent, to US$84.46 a barrel by 0056 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 61 cents, or 0.78 per cent, to US$78.79 a barrel.
Both benchmarks had fallen more than 7 per cent last week on hopes that Iran and Oman were close to reaching a deal that would result in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war.
While Iran said yesterday that a deal with Oman was in its “final stages”, it reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once Washington met other conditions, including US compensation to Iran for its widespread attacks.
“Traders have been conditioned by the on-again, off-again nature of the negotiations and are waiting for tangible evidence, such as verified tanker movements or formal agreements, before further unwinding the risk premium,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.
Iran and the US are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington keeps breaching an interim deal signed in June, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said yesterday.
In a further threat to supply, the Yemeni Iran-aligned Houthis said they had hit Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery yesterday, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkiye and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the US-Israeli war on Shia Iran.
Separately, the United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC said on August 7 that 15 of its vessels had been attacked transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the West Asia conflict in February.
