Brent crude continues to rise sharply, nearing $120 a barrel

North Sea Brent crude continued its sharp rise today amid attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East. It was up more than ten percent during the morning, climbing above $119 a barrel. It later gave up some of its gains. At around 11:00 CET, it was up roughly seven percent and trading above $115 a barrel.

At around 11:00 CET, the price of US light crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was holding almost steady, below $97 a barrel. According to Reuters, the release of oil from the United States' strategic reserves is among the factors behind WTI's lower price compared with Brent.

According to Bloomberg, Brent crude rose as high as $119.13 a barrel today. Early last week, it climbed to $119.50, its highest level since mid-2022. Brent reached its all-time high of around $147.5 in 2008. After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Brent rose to around $139.

"Escalation in the Middle East, targeted attacks on oil infrastructure and the deaths of Iranian leaders. All of this signals a longer-term disruption to oil supplies," said Priyanka Sachdeva, an analyst at Phillip Nova.

A Reuters source said the SAMREF refinery, owned by oil company Saudi Aramco, was targeted in an airstrike this morning at the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu. However, the impact of the attack was minimal, the source said.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards today called for the evacuation of several oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, including the facilities of SAMREF, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and US company Exxon Mobil

The conflict in the Middle East, sparked by US-Israeli attacks on Iran in late February, has among other things brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a standstill. Around a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas supplies normally pass through it.

Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 litres)