The Brent oil, a reference for Europe, advanced close to 4% at 8:10 a.m. and stood above 104 dollars per barrel before trading began on the Old Continent's stock exchanges, very far from the 72 dollars it was trading at before the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel.
At the same time, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), a benchmark in the United States, was rebounding almost 5%, to 96.95 dollars.
During Tuesday's session, Brent has practically reached 105 dollars, after having concluded on Monday slightly above 100 dollars.
Last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to put 400 million barrels on the market from its strategic reserves, the largest release in its history, with the aim of easing upward pressure on crude oil. Under this plan, the United States will contribute 172 million barrels. By the end of this week, the first 86 million barrels of oil that the United States will release from its strategic reserve will begin to enter the market.
Crude oil prices, extremely volatile in recent days —Brent reached 119 dollars just a week ago—, are conditioned by the possibility that the war will last longer than expected and by tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, scene of several attacks on oil tankers since the start of the offensive.
The key, the Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz constitutes a key maritime passage through which around a fifth of the world's seaborne oil trade transits, in addition to a significant volume of liquefied natural gas and fertilizers.
The virtual halt of ship traffic in this area has forced Gulf producers to cut pumping, which in turn is fueling the escalation of crude oil and natural gas prices.
In this scenario, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, has warned that NATO partners face a "very bad future" if they do not collaborate with Washington to reestablish transit in the maritime corridor blocked by Iran.
Europe resists
Nevertheless, the Foreign Ministers of the European Union have rejected the sending of frigates to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although they have stressed the need to guarantee the passage of ships.
The heads of diplomacy of the Twenty-Seven consider it unfeasible to deploy European warships to force the reopening of the strait and lean towards caution and political negotiation, also showing doubts about the option of extending the mandate of the European naval mission “Aspides” to this area.
All this comes after the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, proposed to the 27 ministers to reformulate the EU naval operation "Aspides" —initially created to curb attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels against maritime transport in the Red Sea—, or even to promote a mission organized by the United Nations to keep the Strait of Hormuz open.
The Council of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will hold an "extraordinary" meeting tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to analyze the impact of the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz on maritime transport and the instability generated in the region by Iran's attacks against Gulf countries in response to the offensive by the United States and Israel in Iranian territory.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard has in recent days claimed responsibility for several attacks against vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, as part of its reaction to the offensive launched on February 28 by the United States and Israel against the country.
In the last few hours, the impact of a drone has caused a fire at the Shah natural gas field, in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), while the maritime authorities of the United Kingdom have reported that an unidentified projectile has hit a tanker that was anchored 23 nautical miles —about 37 kilometers— east of Fujairah, in the south of the United Arab Emirates and in the middle of the Gulf of Oman.
The European Stock Exchanges anticipate declines
In this context, on Wall Street, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq closed this Monday in positive territory, with advances of 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively.
For its part, the major Asian markets showed this Tuesday mixed behavior. The Japanese Nikkei ended the session with a fall of 0.2%, while the South Korean Kospi rebounded 1.6%. The Hang Seng index of Hong Kong added 0.2% and the Shanghai Stock Exchange retreated slightly more than 0.8%.
In Europe, the main stock markets point to a start of the day in the red, with declines greater than 0.3%. The Ibex 35, which on Monday concluded above 17,000 points, could lose that level at today's opening.