Crude oil prices reached $104 on Monday as the United States and Iran failed to agree on a deal to end the conflict in the Middle East.
Brent crude oil futures traded 2.7 per cent higher at around $104 a barrel as the deadlock kept the Strait of Hormuz under severe pressure. Before the war began on February 28, crude oil traded below $70 a barrel. The narrow waterway, used to carry one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, has since become a central pressure point in the conflict.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that a ceasefire with Iran was “on life support” after he rejected Tehran’s response to a US peace proposal, fuelling concerns of a resumption of hostilities in the 10-week-old conflict that has killed thousands and disrupted vital energy flows following heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.
According to reports, days after the US floated a proposal aimed at reopening negotiations, Iran on Sunday released a response focused on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, where US ally Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants. The response was swiftly rejected by Trump.
Asked where the ceasefire stands, Trump told reporters on Monday, “I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn’t even finish reading it,” he said.
Meanwhile, three tankers carrying crude exited the Strait of Hormuz last week and on Sunday, with trackers switched off to avoid Iranian attacks, shipping data from Kpler and LSEG showed on Monday.
Two very large crude carriers, the Agios Fanourios I and the Kiara M, carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude each, passed through the strait on Sunday, the data showed.
The Agios Fanourios I is heading to Vietnam to discharge its cargo at the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical facility on May 26, the data showed. The tanker failed to transit the strait in at least two previous attempts since it loaded Basrah medium crude on April 17, Reuters reports.
