By: AGBI

Attacks on commercial shipping around the Gulf and Red Sea pushed crude prices higher on Wednesday, despite US claims that energy exports from the region have recovered close to pre-war levels.

Brent futures gained 1 percent to $89.81 a barrel by 03:30 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 1.2 percent to $84.61.

Both benchmarks have gained up to 7 percent over the past five days and are up more than 40 percent this year.

In a social media post, the US Central Command said it disabled the steering gear of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel Vela Nova after it attempted to transit the Gulf of Oman in violation of the US blockade on docking at Iranian ports.

“A US Navy MH-60 helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the Vela Nova’s engine room after the ship’s civilian crew ignored repeated warnings from American forces,” the post said. “The ship is no longer transiting to Iran in violation of the US blockade, which remains in full effect.”

As of August 11, the US has redirected 55 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade, disabled three non-compliant vessels and boarded two.

Yemen’s transport ministry said six foreign sailors were killed and five were injured after Houthis targeted a Yemeni commercial vessel with three ballistic missiles near the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Iran’s top security official Mohsen Rezaei said on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless the US accepted Tehran’s conditions to end the war, including the release of frozen assets, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

In a social media post on Tuesday, US energy secretary Chris Wright said oil flows from the GCC countries were averaging 15 million barrels per day, following coordinated efforts by the US military and its Gulf allies.

The seven-day average for oil leaving the Strait of Hormuz has risen to almost 9 million barrels per day, he said.

Wright added that another 5-7 million barrels per day were leaving the region through newly upgraded pipelines and export facilities.

He said more than 20 million barrels of oil were exported from the Gulf region alone on Sunday, above the pre-conflict average.

However, Reuters reported, citing shipping data, that only six vessels passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, compared with a 10-day average of about 11.

Gulf stock markets ended lower on Tuesday amid fading prospects of an Iran-US peace deal.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index fell 0.1 percent, dragged lower by mining major Maaden and the country’s biggest lender by assets, Saudi National Bank, which declined 0.8%.

Dubai’s share index fell 0.4 percent, while Abu Dhabi’s benchmark fell 0.8 percent.

Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait all slipped, but Oman’s stock exchange gained 0.5 percent.