Brent crude for July delivery rose 1.8 percent to $111.20 a barrel on May 18, a two-week high. West Texas Intermediate gained 2.2 percent to $103.21. Both prices were quoted at 23:45 ET, which is 03:45 GMT.
The Strait of Hormuz is the main reason. Iran blocked the waterway in late February, and it stayed shut. The strait carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil, and shipping data showed traffic still running at a fraction of pre-war levels. Crude headed to Asia took the biggest hit.
Washington added to the squeeze over the weekend by letting a sanctions waiver on Russian oil expire. The waiver had allowed countries to keep buying Russian seaborne crude. With it gone, big importers, India chief among them, are expected to look elsewhere for barrels.
Drones near Barakah
The security picture did not help. The United Arab Emirates said drone strikes on Sunday started a fire near the Barakah nuclear power plant. The main facility was not directly damaged. Abu Dhabi blamed Iran or its proxies and called the attack a “dangerous escalation.” It came after Iranian drone and missile strikes on the UAE earlier in the month.
President Donald Trump said the “clock is ticking” for Iran to accept a deal, and reports pointed to active U.S.-Israel talks on further military operations against Tehran. He had earlier warned that the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was on “massive life support,” with peace negotiations making little progress.
A U.S.-China summit the week before produced few concrete results on Iran. Trump said China had agreed to buy American oil. Whether anything was signed was unclear.
