Oil prices have risen, touching $100 again, on Friday, as a move by the U.S. to lift sanctions on Russian oil was offset by continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
$Crude Oil Futures (APR6) (CLmain.US)$ climbed 0.3% to $96 a barrel, while Brent crude advanced by 0.7% to $101.14. The gains followed the Trump administration announcing it would allow countries to buy Russian oil currently at sea to expand its supply amid increasingly prolonged disruptions.
Late on Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the stranded oil would be able to be purchased for 30 days. "This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction," Bessent said.
It also comes after Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, broke his silence for the first time as the country's supreme leader since succeeding his father, Ali Khamenei, was killed in an air strike. He called for the Strait of Hormuz to "remain closed" and warned that U.S. military bases in the Middle East would be attacked, according to Reuters which translated the comments.
Iran ramping up its attacks has spooked investors even though efforts have been made to increase the supply of oil. On Wednesday, all 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency agreed unanimously to release 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves - the largest amount ever to be made available. But concerns were seemingly little eased.
"Investors might have hoped for a more positive day of trading after the announcement by the IEA that a record 400 million barrels of oil would be released to try and ease pressure on global markets," Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, wrote in a note. "But further attacks on vessels and warnings that the Strait of Hormuz would effectively remain closed negated any positive impact."