Brent holds above $100 as tanker attacks deepen supply fear
Oil prices held firm on Thursday after Brent crude breached $100 a barrel, with traders bracing for deeper supply disruption as Iran and the United States launched their largest attacks on shipping since their six-month-old conflict began.
Brent crude futures rose 0.1% to $101.34 a barrel by 0107 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $96.55 a barrel, up 0.5%.
Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, and Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would escalate its response to any further attacks.
"The tit-for-tat attacks suggest oil flows from the Persian Gulf are likely to remain disrupted for the foreseeable future," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said in a client note.
Oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway that before the war carried roughly a fifth of global oil and gas supplies, remains well below its pre-war level.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday raised its oil price forecasts for this year and next, as global stockpiles drop due to the loss of Middle Eastern supply.
"The broadening of the conflict threatens to risk even deeper disruption to oil supplies that had already left the oil market scrambling to adjust," Hynes said.
