(May 18): Oil rose for a third day on Monday as US President Donald Trump again pressured Iran to come to a deal to end weeks of war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Brent advanced above US$111 ($142.21) a barrel, after adding almost 8% last week, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose towards US$108. Trump posted on social media on Sunday that “For Iran, the clock is ticking, and they better get moving, fast, or there won’t be anything left of them. Time is of the essence!”
Oil has risen more than 50% since the US and Israel first attacked Iran at the end of February, with subdued flows through the Strait of Hormuz crimping supply from Persian Gulf producers. The market is in “a race against time” as the factors that restrained price rises from the war stand to come under strain if the vital waterway stays closed into June, Morgan Stanley said last week.
“Markets have seen plenty of headlines around possible solutions, but no credible mechanism yet that fully removes the Hormuz supply risk,” said Charu Chanana, the chief investment strategist of Saxo Markets in Singapore. “The risk premium is likely to stay sticky.”
Further pressure on supply came as the Trump administration let a waiver for Russian crude sales lapse. That came despite a request by India to extend the measure.
Energy facilities were targeted in the Persian Gulf over the weekend, with an attack by drones sparking a fire at a United Arab Emirates nuclear facility and underscoring the fragility of the ceasefire.
See also: UAE to double oil export capacity bypassing Hormuz by 2027
Reports on Iran’s semi-official news outlets suggested both sides in the conflict remain far apart. The Mehr agency said Washington offered “no tangible concessions”, while seeking “to obtain concessions that it failed to obtain during the war, which will lead to an impasse in the negotiations”.
Trump met on Saturday with US Vice President JD Vance, White House envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe to discuss the war, Axios reported on Sunday. He is expected to meet again with his national security team on Tuesday.
“We want to make a deal,” Trump told Axios, adding he’s waiting for an updated Iranian proposal. “They are not where we want them to be. They will have to get there or they will be hit badly, and they don’t want that.”
See also: Oil heads for weekly advance with Iran war resolution at impasse
A member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet, Zev Elkin, said the country was poised to resume strikes on Iran should Trump decide to do so. “We have targets that we want to hit,” Elkin told Kan radio.
Since the ceasefire began on April 8, Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume the bombing campaign that began on Feb 28.
Prices:
- Brent for July settlement rose 1.8%% to US$111.21 a barrel at 11.21am in Singapore on Monday
- WTI for June delivery — which expires on Tuesday — gained 2.1% to US$107.62 a barrel
- The more-active July contract added 2.1% to US$103.16 a barrel
Uploaded by Isabelle Francis
