LONDON: Benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose past $100 a barrel on Wednesday, hitting a more than six-week high and breaching the symbolic threshold for the first time since July 24 as intensifying conflict in the Middle East heightened concerns about oil flows from the region.
Brent crude futures were up $2.01, or 2.05 percent, at $99.93 a barrel by 01:02pm PKT, after earlier touching $100.19, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.49, or 1.60 percent, at $94.52 a barrel.
Brent crude prices have risen by a quarter since early last month as hopes fade for a permanent resolution to the six-month-old US-Iran conflict.
Benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose past $100 a barrel breaching the symbolic barrier for the first time since July 24 as intensifying conflict in the Middle East fueled growing concern about oil flows from the region https://t.co/DO5nqmtH9V
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 9, 2026
Since the Iran war began on February 28, Brent has surged as high as $126.41 a barrel, a peak reached on April 30.
Supply risks mount
“Market participants appear to be pricing in a more prolonged conflict in the Middle East as well as the risk that the latest escalation in military strikes disrupts oil flows from the Middle East,” senior climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, Hamad Hussain, said as quoted by Reuters.
A growing number of banks, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and HSBC, have raised their crude price forecasts in recent days.
In the week before a resumption in fighting on August 30, roughly 8 million to 9 million barrels per day had flowed through Hormuz, double the previous week’s volume, according to Rystad Energy’s Chief Economist Claudio Galimberti, although more recently it had fallen below 2 million bpd.
“I think the market is trying to treat this rise in energy prices as a one-off. It’s not. This is structural. It’s not going away, and it’s part of what I would argue as a security premium. And it’s only going to get bigger,” said Jeffrey Currie, co-chairman at Abaxx Markets.
