Oil prices rose over 1% on Monday as prospects of reopening Hormuz remained stuck in limbo. Brent crude gained 1.32% to $84.65 a barrel, around 7:30 am IST while WTI crude rose 1.04% to $78.99 a barrel.The rise came after both benchmarks fell more than 7% last week on expectations that Iran and Oman were close to reaching an agreement that could restore shipping through the strait. The waterway carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war.In the Middle East, Iran and Oman are close to a shipping-lane deal but Tehran is demanding more from Washington first. Earlier on Sunday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said that the agreement with Oman was in its “final stages”. The pact would establish new shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz, but these would only be used once the US meets Tehran’s conditions and the waterway is reopened, Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.Iran has said those conditions include compensation, an end to sanctions and an end to military threats from the US.The two nations, meanwhile, have not engaged in direct dialogue. Araqchi said that Tehran would not enter talks with Washington while the US was breaching an interim agreement signed in June. Messages between the two sides were instead being exchanged through intermediaries, he added.The uncertainty around Hormuz comes alongside attacks involving another key oil-producing country in the region.The Iran-aligned Houthi rebels said on Sunday that they had attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry confirmed that a fire had broken out at the refinery. It said the blaze had been extinguished, no injuries were reported and authorities were dealing with the incident, but did not provide a cause.The Houthis have also targeted shipping around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, another oil chokepoint on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula. The attacks have taken place alongside Iranian strikes on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.Last month, the Yemeni rebel group announced a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, saying it was in response to what it described as a Saudi siege on the Houthis in Yemen. Riyadh has denied the allegation and supports Yemen’s internationally recognised government.Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC said on Friday that 15 of its vessels had come under attack while passing through the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began.The developments have kept uncertainty over the security of oil shipments through the region in focus as markets assess when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen. Though oil markets have remained volatile amid the ongoing geopolitical chaos, the spike is far lower than the $126 per barrel levels seen earlier during the war.
