Date: 23 July 2019 , 07:15
News ID: 5415

Brent, WTI Rise More Than 2%

Oil prices rose more than 2% on Monday on concerns that Iran’s seizure of a British tanker last week may lead to supply disruptions in the energy-rich Persian Gulf.
Brent, WTI Rise More Than 2%

Brent crude futures climbed $1.41, or 2.26%, to $63.88 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up $1.13, or 2.03%, at $56.76 a barrel, news outlets reported.

Last week, WTI fell over 7% and Brent lost more than 6%. 

Tensions in the region “have likely added to the already strong geopolitical risk premium”, JBC Energy said in a note. 

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had captured a British-flagged oil tanker in the Persian Gulf in response to Britain’s seizure of an Iranian tanker earlier this month. 

The move has increased the fear of potential supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the gulf, through which flows about one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies. 

Britain was weighing its next moves on Monday, with few good options apparent as a recording emerged showing the Iranian military defied a British warship when it boarded and seized the ship. 

Capping gains was news that Libya’s Sharara oilfield, the country’s biggest, had resumed production at half capacity on Monday after being shut since Friday, which caused an output loss of about 290,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Meanwhile, data late last week showed shipments of crude oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, fell to a 1-1/2-year low in May.