The Brent barrel, reference for the European market, recorded before the start of the stock markets of the Old Continent a rise close to 2.3%, placing its quotation above 111.2 dollars. This new increase comes after a deadly attack on an oil field of Saudi Aramco and after new incidents against oil tankers in the Persian Gulf attributed to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
In parallel, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, a key marker in the United States, advanced around 2.1% in the hours leading up to the opening of the European markets, reaching 99.1 dollars per barrel.
According to sources from the Ministry of Energy cited by the official Saudi agency, SPA, at least two people have lost their lives and two others have been injured in a supposed attack by the Houthi insurgency from Yemen against the Saudi field of Shaybah, operated by Saudi Aramco.
The Houthis have not yet issued a statement about this specific attack, but in recent weeks they have intensified their actions against Saudi oil facilities, mostly belonging to the state company Aramco, such as Shaybah, as part of their campaign against Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government against the rebels.
On the other hand, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran claimed this Thursday to have "simultaneously reached" four ships after surprising them "transferring oil shipments" in the waters of the Persian Gulf, after pursuing them upon detecting that they had navigated through routes in the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran considers illegal.
"After having issued prior warnings to the infringing shipping companies that, deceived by the invading American army, had transited through illegal routes, the Naval Force detected and followed four ships that had used said routes," indicated the Navy of the Revolutionary Guard in a statement released by the Tasnim agency, linked to the military body itself, which claims that its forces "continue to manage and control the Strait of Hormuz."
The text adds that, at the end of the pursuit, the forces of the Navy of the Revolutionary Guard "found them transferring oil shipments in the middle of the northern Persian Gulf, where the four ships were simultaneously reached and caught fire."
Likewise, the Iranian military body reported that, during the night, another "three violating vessels (of Tehran's guidelines on maritime transit) collided with mines in the western Strait of Hormuz and were detained."
In its message, the Revolutionary Guard blames Washington for the escalation by stating that "the insistence of the arrogant U.S. regime in inciting vessels to transit through an illegally mined route has caused a daily increase in maritime incidents" and, as a "serious warning," emphasizes that "the aggressive United States Army must know that, if this trend continues, the scope of the confrontation will extend to its military bases in the region."