Oil prices extended gains on Monday as Iran and Oman continued to fall short of a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with the risk of a fresh escalation in the Middle East keeping markets on edge. Brent crude, the European benchmark, edged up 0.01% to $83.56 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) slipped 0.18% to $78.04 per barrel.
Brent has now accumulated gains of more than 5% over the previous three sessions as investors tracked negotiations to restore maritime traffic through the strait. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said over the weekend that an agreement with Oman to establish a shipping route through the waterway was ‘very close’, but cautioned that any deal would not mean an immediate reopening of the passage.
The prospect of a swift normalisation of energy flows has therefore receded. ‘Until we actually see flows normalised, I think geopolitical risk will continue to provide support to oil,’ Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer at Karobaar Capital, told Bloomberg. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transited the Strait of Hormuz bound for global markets.
The threat of renewed Middle East escalation continued to weigh on sentiment. Over the weekend, a tanker operated by Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. was attacked in the strait, while Tehran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a strike on Saudi Arabia’s Jazan refinery near the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy confirmed that a fire at the facility was extinguished on Sunday, without disclosing the cause.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/08/10/mercados/mercados-mercados/petroleo-sobe-com-reabertura-do-estreito-de-ormuz-ainda-sem-acordo/
