Brent Trades Near $85 as Oil Extends Four-Day Rally on US Strikes on Iran

Oil rose for a fourth straight session as continued US airstrikes on Iran and fears of supply disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz supported the market.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded around $85 a barrel on July 15, Bloomberg reported. Brent had already climbed about 12% over the previous three trading sessions. West Texas Intermediate traded near $80 a barrel.

The US carried out additional strikes on Iran a day earlier and said it had also disabled an empty tanker bound for an Iranian port. The escalation in military clashes between Washington and Tehran has renewed concern over crude supply disruptions in the Middle East.

Oil prices have risen to their highest level in about a month. Concern over global energy supplies has also intensified after Ukraine launched repeated attacks on Russian refineries and tankers.

Jeff Currie, a senior adviser at Carlyle Group, said supply disruptions are affecting not only the Strait of Hormuz but also Russian crude production and refining facilities. The energy market situation is highly serious.

President Donald Trump has said he will intensify airstrikes until Iran stops attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz and reopens the waterway. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is inclined to expand military operations and that options to seize Kharg Island, a key hub for Iran's oil exports, were also discussed.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, meanwhile has maintained that it will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until the US halts airstrikes on Iran and ends its blockade of Iranian ports.

Traffic through the strait has not stopped completely, however. US Central Command said about half of the roughly 300 vessels that passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the past week did so with US military support.

Separately, US crude inventories fell by about 1.7 million barrels last week as exports increased, according to the Energy Information Administration.