Oil prices rise slightly after US announces new round of strikes on Iran

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FILE PHOTO: General view of Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2018. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photo
Smoke billows near the oil facility in Mangaf, Kuwait, July 18, 2026, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. Social Media/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. NEWS USE ONLY. Verification lines: - Tower, mosque, and buildings matched satellite and archive imagery. - Date verified by statement from Kuwait Petroleum Corporation that one of its oil facilities had been hit in "repeated Iranian attacks," causing significant damage and some injuries, according to the state news agency. - The area where the smoke is shown in the video is marked as a Kuwait Petroleum Company facility on Google maps.

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July 22 : Oil prices inched higher in early trading on Wednesday as fears of further supply disruptions intensified after U.S. forces said it began striking Iranian military targets for the 11th straight night and Kuwait reported attacks by Iranian drones. 

Brent crude futures rose 0.55 per cent, or 50 cents, to $91.51 after markets opened on Wednesday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.36 per cent, or 30 cents, to $84.64 in low volume trading. 

This comes after oil settled at a five-week high on Tuesday after U.S. forces struck targets in southern and western Iran, while Iran attacked U.S. facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. 

The U.S. military said it began its latest strikes on Iran late on Tuesday in the United States, or early Wednesday in Iran. The U.S. attacks came a short while after the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were intercepting Iranian drones on Wednesday.     

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The constant trading of strikes have raised fears of further disruptions to global energy supplies after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis opened a new front in the Iran war by threatening to target vessels carrying Saudi oil in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and announcing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.    

The Bab el-Mandeb waterway at the southern entrance to the Red Sea has become an increasingly important route for Saudi crude exports as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply since a ceasefire between the United States and Iran collapsed earlier this month.      

Separately, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary said the country's war in Iran has cost it $37.5 billion so far, an increase of nearly $8 billion since the last public estimate.

 Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude and distillate inventories rose last week, while gasoline stockpiles fell, market sources said. The inventory data comes ahead of official figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. 

Source: Reuters

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