Reuters
[Photo Credit: Reuters]
Oil prices jumped more than 3% on Thursday after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted a U.S. airbase in response to a U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport.
Brent crude futures rose $3.51, or 3.72%, to $97.8 a barrel by 0344 GMT, while the more active August contract gained $3.35 or 3.63%, to $95.6. The July contract is set to expire on Friday.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up $3.31, or 3.73%, at $91.99.
Both benchmarks slipped more than 5% to touch their lowest in a month in the previous session on the possibility of a U.S.-Iran deal to end their war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday they targeted a U.S. airbase after what they described as an early morning U.S. attack near Bandar Abbas airport, Tasnim news agency reported.
They warned that any repeat of what they called aggression would draw a “more decisive”.
The U.S. military launched new strikes in Iran targeting a military site that officials believed posed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial maritime traffic in the strait, a U.S. official told Reuters.
In the U.S., crude oil stockpiles fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, the sixth straight week of declines, according to American Petroleum Institute data.
Official inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration are due on Thursday, a day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.
