Oil prices climb toward 100 dollars

Oil prices rose for the fifth consecutive day early on Thursday, topping $98 per barrel to the highest level in nearly two months, as Houthi attacks on tankers on the Red Sea route intensified concerns about supply from the Middle East. 

Early on Thursday in Europe, Brent Crude prices passed $98 per barrel, rising by 4.21% to $98.03.

The U.S. benchmark, WTI Crude, was nearing the $90 per barrel mark, trading at $89.57, up by 3.16% on the day, as the Iran-aligned Houthis appeared to make good on their pledge to target Saudi Arabia’s oil exports from the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

At least two tankers have turned away from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after Yemen’s Houthis said they have struck two Saudi tankers in the chokepoint in the latest Middle East war escalation, saying they had violated the naval blockade that the Yemeni forces declared earlier this week.

The oil price action from early Thursday extended oil gains to the fifth consecutive trading session, with prices now up by nearly 20% compared to before the re-escalation, which started two weeks ago.