The full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is being delayed by the tit-for-tat US–Iran attacks. Although the resulting squeeze on oil supply persists, rising inflation and other economic worries have raised fears of a fall in global oil demand. As a result, oil prices fell by about 2 percent on international markets on Thursday.
Before the war, about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passed through the strait.
Brent crude fell by $1.72, or 2.2 percent, to $76.30 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by $1.44, or 2 percent, to $72.08 a barrel.
On Wednesday, Brent crude had risen to its highest since June 19 and WTI to its highest since June 22.
After US strikes on Iran’s southern coastal and eastern provinces, Iran’s armed forces on Thursday attacked US military infrastructure in the Gulf states, putting a three-week-old ceasefire under fresh strain.
Bikash Dwivedi, global energy strategist at Macquarie Group, said in a note: “We expect the fresh tensions between the United States and Iran will not last very long, because both countries are now constrained by pragmatic economic and political realities.”
Qatar — known as a US mediator with Tehran and other adversaries — condemned the attacks on commercial shipping and called for a return to diplomacy. The foreign ministers of Turkey and Oman also spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, stressing the need to avoid a fresh military escalation.
Analysts at the US bank Goldman Sachs said in a report that within the first 10 days after the Strait of Hormuz reopened, oil supply from the Persian Gulf had climbed above 80 percent of pre-war levels, as previously stranded tankers rushed to leave the Gulf; but recent fresh attacks on tankers have pushed it below 70 percent of normal.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report