Oil rose on Wednesday as doubts about a US-Iran peace deal and attacks on two ships raised fears of supply disruption, even as industry data showed a sharp build in US crude inventories (Geo News).
Brent futures gained 72 cents, or 0.81 per cent, to $89.63 a barrel by 0053 GMT, with US West Texas Intermediate up 71 cents, or 0.85 per cent, at $83.91. Both settled more than $1 higher on Tuesday at their highest closes since July 31, extending a jump of about 5 per cent on Monday.
The single most striking number is not the price. Shipping data showed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to six vessels on Monday, against a ten-day average of about 11 — and against 125 to 140 a day before the war. The waterway has not been closed so much as reduced to a trickle.
The United States and the Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping in Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb on Tuesday. Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, said Hormuz would remain closed unless Washington accepted Iran’s conditions for ending the war, including the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to other conflicts in the region.
The supply picture is not uniformly tight. Market sources citing American Petroleum Institute data said US crude inventories rose about 9.1 million barrels in the week to August 7 — far more than expected — while gasoline stocks fell 1.5 million barrels and distillates 596,000. A Reuters poll had pointed to a decline. Haitong Futures said that if the Energy Information Administration confirmed the build, it could ease concerns about tightness. Official EIA figures were due later on Wednesday.
Longer term, the EIA expects disruptions of about 600,000 barrels a day to Middle East crude supply to persist through the end of 2027 — a forecast that prices in the conflict continuing well beyond any near-term deal.
For Pakistan, which imports around 90 per cent of its energy, the effect reaches the pump with a lag. Petrol was cut by Rs1.70 to Rs325.92 on Wednesday under the daily mechanism, which averages the previous seven days — so this week’s climb towards $90 arrives in next week’s notifications. Diesel moved the other way, to Rs382.25.
