Oil Rises for Fourth Straight Session as Traders Watch Hormuz Talks

Oil rose for a fourth consecutive session as traders watched negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

West Texas Intermediate traded above $83 a barrel on Aug. 11, according to Bloomberg. WTI has climbed about 11% over the past four sessions, while Brent closed the previous session near $89 a barrel.

Crude prices have been highly sensitive to headlines on talks related to the Strait of Hormuz. Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said the US and Iran are "approaching some kind of agreement" over the waterway. Al Jazeera, citing a spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, also reported that talks between Iran and Oman had reached an advanced stage.

Military tensions in the Middle East remain elevated. In one incident, a US Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles at a Panama-flagged cargo ship that was attempting to break through an Iranian port blockade.

Helge Andre Martinsen, chief oil analyst at DNB Bank, said the market was difficult to read with conviction. It is being driven heavily by news headlines.

The US Energy Information Administration projected that oil supply disruptions tied to the Iran conflict will reach about 600,000 barrels a day by the end of 2027.

US crude inventories rose by 9.1 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute. If official data due later on Aug. 11 shows a similar increase, it would mark the biggest build since February.