WTI Crude Extends Surge

2026-03-12 14:12 By Andre Joaquim 1 min. read

WTI oil futures surged further to test the $97 per barrel mark on Thursday on risks that seaborne oil supply from the Persian Gulf is likely to remain halted for longer.

The new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stated that the Strait of Hormuz should stay closed in his first public statement, maintaining Tehran's defiant rhetoric and extending bets on the duration of supply disruptions after multiple tankers near the chokepoint were hit the IRGC overnight.

The statement coincided with strikes of increasing intensity between Iran, Israel, and GCC members.

Tankers have been unable to take deliveries from the Gulf since the start of the conflict this month, effectively removing 20% of global trade and driving GCC members to cut production by 10 million barrels per day as storage capacity was reached.

The IEA stated that the disruption was the largest in the oil market in history, driving its members to agree on a 400 million barrel release of strategic stockpiles.



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