The prices of oil They closed with a strong advance on Wednesday, driven by an upward revision of the geopolitical risk related to Iran following new statements from the White House.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in April, rose 4.35% to $70.35, erasing its losses in recent sessions.
Its US equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in March, gained 4.59% to $65.19.
“There are numerous reasons and arguments in favor of an attack on Iran,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “Iran would be very wise to conclude an agreement with President Trump,” he added.
After a second round of indirect negotiations in Switzerland, US Vice President JD Vance noted that disagreements over US “red lines” persisted.
Iran, for its part, assured that it had agreed with Washington on a set of “guiding principles.”
The tension in the market “also corresponds to what we see in terms of the deployment of US resources in the Middle East,” John Kilduff of Again Capital told AFP.
Washington has sent two aircraft carriers to the Gulf and also has tens of thousands of soldiers in bases throughout the region.
According to Kilduff, this constitutes “a real threat to a large part of the oil supply”, which explains the rise in prices.
The main risk for the oil market in the event of a military escalation is the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of world crude oil production passes.
Likewise, operators fear for the future of the hydrocarbon infrastructure of Iran, one of the top ten oil producers in the world.
A regional conflagration could also threaten production in other countries, such as Iraq, the United Arab Emirates or Kuwait.
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