- Brent crude hit $100 a barrel amid rising Middle East geopolitical tensions
- Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, raising supply fears
- Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb are critical chokepoints for global oil shipments
Brent crude was trading at $100-a-barrel mark on Thursday evening, extending its sharp rally as escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East fuelled concerns over potential disruptions to global oil supplies.
The surge in the Crude prices intensified after Yemen's Houthi rebels said they had targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, speculating prolonged supply disruption while the United States conducted a 12th straight night of strikes on Iran.
The latest surge reflects mounting anxiety over security risks across two of the world's most critical energy chokepoints — the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
Together, these waterways handle a significant portion of global crude and refined petroleum shipments, prompting traders to build a larger geopolitical risk premium into oil prices amid fears that any prolonged disruption could tighten supplies.
The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, is a critical artery for international trade, facilitating around 12% of global commerce and the movement of nearly 4.1 billion barrels of oil and petroleum products annually.
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The Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, remains the world's most important oil transit route, carrying close to one-quarter of global seaborne crude exports.
With Brent now trading above the key $100-a-barrel threshold, markets are increasingly focused on the broader economic implications.
A sustained rise in crude prices could push up fuel costs, revive inflationary pressures across major economies and complicate the policy outlook for central banks that are already navigating the trade-off between slowing growth and sticky inflation.
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