The price of Brent crude rose nearly 4% on Thursday as progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, vital to securing stable oil supplies, remained unclear.
Iran has said it is close to a deal with Oman for reopening the strait. U.S. President Donald Trump has also previously said a deal is close, but the conflict has had many starts and stops over the past five months.
Reopening the strait may require a compromise since the Trump administration has ruled out Iran charging fees to ships. But Iran has insisted on some measure of control, saying the strait will not go back to being an international waterway.
As of early Friday, a barrel of Brent, the international standard, slipped 0.3% at $82.26. U.S. benchmark crude oil edged 0.1% lower, to $77.19 per barrel.
A fifth of the world’s traded oil and natural gas once passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices have surged as high as $113 due to the war and higher prices have added more heat to inflation by raising the price of gasoline and raising costs for shipping.
The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. The Trucker Media Group is subscriber of The Associated Press has been granted the license to use this content on TheTrucker.com and The Trucker newspaper in accordance with its Content License Agreement with The Associated Press.
