The barrel of Brent oil, a benchmark for Europe, was rising around 2.5% this Friday and stood at around 118 dollars per unit, while the war in Iran stretches on more than eight months since the start of the US-Israeli offensive on the Asian country and with the midterm elections in the United States, the 'midterms', scheduled for this November 3.
Crude oil is thus moving at levels not seen since April, in a context in which rising energy costs have pushed eurozone inflation to 3.8% in September, its highest level in the last three years, and have driven the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the United States up to 3.7%, with forecasts of further increases in October.
At the same time, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark in the US market, was exceeding 104 dollars per barrel, with an intraday advance of more than 2%.
In the Strait of Hormuz, tensions continue not to ease. The Iranian government has reported the destruction of "an enemy naval drone", without providing further information for the moment about the incident, while insisting that the passage, key for the global transport of crude oil, remains closed.
Washington, for its part, maintains that there is no such blockade in Hormuz, considering that it retains military control of the area, although its deployment is limited to the outside of the maritime corridor. The commander of CENTCOM, Brad Cooper, stressed this Friday that during a recent visit he was able to observe "dozens of commercial vessels", including container ships and LNG carriers, sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, in addition to military units deployed in the area.
On Thursday it emerged that Iran would have received a letter from the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, whose contents have not been revealed, in a context marked by the possibility of resuming peace talks between Washington and Tehran.
However, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has denied having given instructions to formally reopen the dialogue. "What it is about is that they need help with medical supplies and various things. He asked me what I thought. I told him: 'If you want to do that, that's fine'," he indicated about these contacts with Tehran.
The next November 3 the legislative midterm elections, the 'midterms', are held in the North American country, in which the 435 seats of the House of Representatives and 35 seats of the Senate will be renewed, with the war in Iran and the cost of energy at the center of the political debate.
The current tenant of the White House has also pointed to these elections as a key milestone for making decisions about the conflict, which has already surpassed eight months since the US-Israeli offensive began on February 28.
"Something will happen relatively soon, in one sense or the other," Trump said a little more than a week ago, underscoring that "most people seem to think it will be after the elections". Around those dates, the US newspaper 'The New York Times' pointed out that both Washington and Tehran would have plans ready for new attacks once the 'midterms' are over, in a climate of growing exchange of accusations and threats in the face of the risk of a new large-scale escalation in the Middle East.
Oil companies skyrocket their profits
The rebound in the price of crude oil has strongly boosted the third-quarter results of the major US oil companies, which are recording record profits supported, among other factors, by the rise in oil prices.
BP increased its earnings by 258% in the first nine months of the year, while its net profit between July and August soared by 304%. In turn, Chevron increased its results by 154% through September and ExxonMobil achieved an improvement of 52% compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.