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Oil prices rose early Wednesday, October 7, as reported attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and escalating fighting in Yemen revived concerns about Middle Eastern exports. The move came alongside industry data showing a decline in U.S. crude inventories, adding a second source of support to prices already elevated by the region’s prolonged conflict.
West Texas Intermediate futures gained 0.59% to $89.97 a barrel at 7:38 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, according to Investing.com. Brent futures settled Tuesday up 0.8% at $101.08 a barrel. Those figures reflect different benchmarks and timing: the WTI quote was an early-Wednesday trade, while the Brent figure was Tuesday’s settlement.
Vessel strikes keep shipping risks in focus
The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations agency reported seven strikes on vessels around the Strait of Hormuz since late September, including one on Sunday, the Investing.com report said. The incidents have renewed concern over safe passage through a waterway central to Middle Eastern oil shipments.
At the same time, shipping flows through Hormuz and the wider region had climbed over recent weeks toward prewar levels, according to shipping data cited in the report. U.S. naval protection was being offered to shipping in the area. The conflicting signals—recovering flows but continuing attacks—help explain why oil prices remained sensitive to fresh security developments.
Iran has said the strait will remain closed to shipping until the United States meets its demands and has warned vessels against using a U.S.-backed route, the report said. It did not provide details of any change to shipping arrangements on Wednesday.
Yemen conflict adds another route of concern
In Yemen, fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and forces aligned with the Saudi-backed government has intensified around the Red Sea coast. The Houthis claimed attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia, including an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, according to Investing.com; the claim was not independently confirmed in the article.
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s government had launched a campaign to push the Houthis away from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another important maritime passage. AP said the Houthis had escalated missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and that the group claimed to have hit an Aramco refinery, airports and military bases.
Government forces were reported to have retaken several areas along the Red Sea coast, including Dhubab, according to Yemeni officials cited by AP. Regaining territory near Bab el-Mandeb could eventually support oil shipments along the route, but the fighting and competing claims leave the security outlook uncertain.
U.S. stockpile data adds market support
The American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. oil inventories fell by 2.09 million barrels in the week ending October 2. The reported draw followed three consecutive weeks of large inventory increases, Investing.com said.
API figures are industry data and can differ from the U.S. government’s official inventory report. The official figures were due later Wednesday, meaning traders were still awaiting a separate measure of stock levels when the market report was published.
Supply recovery and emergency releases temper gains
Reports of improving oil supplies from the Middle East and planned emergency releases by the Group of Seven limited the scale of the price advance, according to Investing.com. The G7 had announced plans to release 100 million barrels of oil and fuel products in coming weeks, with substantial diesel volumes to be released first, AP reported.
Seven OPEC+ producers—Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman—agreed on October 4 to keep production steady in November. AP reported that the group was scheduled to meet again on November 1 to review market conditions.
Even with exports recovering from earlier disruption, AP reported that Brent remained near $100 a barrel on Tuesday, compared with about $70 before the Iran war. Whether renewed vessel attacks or the Yemen escalation will materially interrupt current flows remained unclear in the available reporting; the next near-term data point for U.S. inventories was the government report due Wednesday.
