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WTI rises toward $79.60 amid Middle East shipping risk
WTI extends gains for a second straight day as the Strait of Hormuz blockade and attacks on tankers add to supply fears.
WTI crude is extending its gains for a second consecutive day, trading around $79.60 per barrel during Tuesday’s Asian hours, as supply concerns build amid a renewed escalation of Middle East hostilities.
FXStreet reports that US President Donald Trump has reinstated a naval blockade targeting Iranian vessels and customers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and said other commercial cargo passing through the waterway would face a 20% reimbursement fee for the US military effort to secure the chokepoint.
The pressure in oil markets has been compounded by tit-for-tat military exchanges between Washington and Tehran, with Iran targeting American allies across the Gulf.
In a separate development, the UAE Ministry of Defence confirmed that the national oil tankers Mombasa and Al Bahiyah were struck by Iranian cruise missiles, an attack Reuters said occurred in the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz within Omani territorial waters.
Latest closeWTI crude $78.04 ▲9.3%