The stalled peace talks between Iran and the U.S. along with the continued Naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz sent crude oil prices soaring even more on Wednesday.
The closure continues amid the impasse between the two countries at war with each other. Another impact was the Tuesday decision by the United Arab Emirates to drop out of the OPEC cartel.
Brent crude closed at $118.11 a barrel following a gain of nearly $9 or 6.2%.
West Texas Intermediate gained 6.8% or more than $8 a barrel to close at $106.74 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The jump in prices also came on word that President Trump told aides to prepare to a prolonged naval blockade of Iran’s ports and coastline. The President reportedly sees the blockade as less risky than any resumption of air attacks on the country. He also remained committed to his demand that Iran stop uranium enrichment.
Natural gas prices finished down for the day at $2.646 MMBtu with a drop of $0.045 or 1.67%.
A near split among Oklahoma energy stocks on Wednesday. While Stardust Power Inc. dropped more than 8%, Helmerich & Payne along with Ovintiv each gained more than 4%.