NEW YORK/LONDON (dpa-AFX) – Oil prices rose on Wednesday amid concerns about a prolonged disruption to oil deliveries through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. In the morning, a barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea Brent variety was paid at $92.31, over five percent more than the day before. The price decline that began on Monday and continued on Tuesday has therefore stopped for the time being.
With the Iran war, the transport of crude oil from the producing areas in the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz has effectively come to a standstill. Recently, reports of sea mines allegedly planted by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz have fueled concerns about the security of international energy supplies.
In addition, transiting the Persian Gulf is becoming increasingly risky. A merchant ship was hit by a suspected Iranian attack off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. An “unknown projectile” hit a container ship at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the British Merchant Shipping Safety Authority (UKMTO) reported on Wednesday.
Media reports that the International Energy Agency (IEA) plans to propose the largest release of emergency oil reserves in its history have so far failed to push oil prices down. As the Bloomberg news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an insider, the release of the reserves is expected to have a volume of around 300 to 400 million barrels (159 liters each).
The 32 IEA member countries have 1.2 billion barrels of oil in emergency reserves. There are also 600 million barrels of industrial stocks, according to the Paris-based organization. Previously, leading industrial nations (G7) had shown themselves fundamentally open to releasing emergency oil reserves in view of the economic effects of the Iran war. “In principle, we support the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves,” said a joint statement by the energy ministers of the countries distributed by France, the current G7 chairman.
Governments are trying to contain the rise in energy prices caused by the Middle East war. At the beginning of the trading week, the price of Brent crude oil temporarily rose to the $120 per barrel mark./jkr/jsl/stk
