The turmoil in the Middle East, with thousands of air attacks by U.S. and Israeli warplanes and missiles on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory response on neighboring countries prompted another gain Tuesday in crude oil prices.
The Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf was closed because of Iran’s missile attacks on the narrow stretch of sea, prompting President Trump to say the U.S. Navy would begin escorting tankers through the Strait “if necessary.”
Brent crude, the global benchmark, managed a 3% gain, closing at $80.08 a barrel, the highest market since January 2025.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. standard, rose 2.9% and closed at $73.41 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its highest level since June 2025.
Earlier in the day, both contracts had soared as high as 9.5%.
Iranian officials vowed to attack any ship attempting to pass through the waterway, raising the prospect of disruption to crude flows from major Gulf producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates, according to Reuters.
Additionally, Iraqi officials stated that the country has decreased oil production from the important Rumaila oil field by 700,000 barrels per day today.
Energy is an industry that has become a target of the retaliatory responses by Iran following weekend and continued military attacks by the U.S. and Israel. On Monday, Iranian attacked energy installations in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Iranian drones targeted a power plant and an energy facility in Qatar, the Qatari defense ministry said, reported the New York Times. Soon after, QatarEnergy, one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, said that it would halt production, a major shock that sent the price of natural gas soaring.
The Times also reported that on Monday, Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry said that a fire had broken out at the Ras Tanura oil refinery in the kingdom’s eastern province after two Iranian drones were intercepted, causing fragments to fall. Some units of the refinery were shut down as a precautionary measure, it said.
Natural gas prices rose as well on Tuesday, reaching $30.47 MMBtu following a gain of $0.087 or 2.94%.
More Oklahoma energy stocks recorded losses than those reporting gains in Tuesday’s trading. While Empire Petroleum rose more than 6%, NGL Energy Partners fell 5% and USA Rare Earth Inc. dropped 7%.