Brent and WTI crude notched weekly gains after new tanker attacks and stalled Iran ceasefire talks drove a Friday rally. The US Treasury is preparing sweeping new sanctions on Iran's oil sector under "Operation Economic Fury," layered on top of a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that carries about a fifth of global oil and LNG supply.
Brent crude settled at $88.52 a barrel Friday, up $1.45, or 1.67%, while WTI finished at $82.40, up $1.15, or 1.42%. Brent and WTI were on track for weekly gains of 6.0% and 5.4%, respectively. New attacks on tankers and a lack of progress on a cease-fire agreement drove the rally into the weekend, according to Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.
Tanker attacks push prices higher
Two vessels from the state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company were attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, an incident the UAE government condemned as an Iranian attack. According to Phil Flynn, senior analyst for Price Futures Group: "That's the headline that pushed up prices: Tankers attacked." Adding to the disruption, crude oil exports from Russia's Sheskharis terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended Friday following a drone attack.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell below the month's average as the US and Iran made competing claims over control of the channel. Before US-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February, the strait handled about one-fifth of global crude oil and LNG supplies.
Washington escalates the economic pressure
The US said Thursday it could maintain a naval blockade of Iran indefinitely and increase economic pressure on Tehran in response to stalled ceasefire talks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent followed on August 13, 2026 with a sweeping new package of measures branded "Operation Economic Fury," describing them as the financial equivalent of military operations. The Treasury Department is rolling out secondary sanctions targeting any foreign entity, including banks, that engages with Iran's oil sector.
Trump has publicly threatened to hit Iran hard economically and militarily since March 2026, and his administration views Iran's deteriorating economic indicators, including high inflation and shrinking oil exports, as leverage to force Tehran back to the negotiating table. The relationship has been on a downward trajectory since a memorandum of understanding reached in June 2026 collapsed, removing the last diplomatic guardrail between the two countries.
Demand data complicates the picture
Even so, OPEC forecasts pointed to weaker demand growth while US crude inventories posted their largest weekly increase in more than three and a half years. Storage is holding up much better than feared, according to Norbert Rucker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer, referring to reports from the International Energy Agency and the US Energy Information Administration.
Sources: Investing.com, Crypto Briefing
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