Crude extended weekly surge past $94 as US sanctions threat and Hormuz bottlenecks tighten supply

Global crude oil futures settled higher on Friday, capping substantial weekly gains as Washington's threat of secondary sanctions against Iran’s trading partners intensified supply deficit concerns amid chronic maritime transit disruptions.

International benchmark Brent crude rose 61 cents, or 0.65%, to settle at $94.39 a barrel, whilst US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 23 cents, or 0.26%, to close at $87.06 a barrel.

Over the week, Brent advanced 6.39% and WTI rallied 5.66%, with both benchmarks testing their strongest levels since 24 July.

The bullish momentum was primarily driven by geopolitical risk premiums following the lapse of the US–Iran agreement and Washington’s vow to deploy severe financial penalties, exacerbating existing physical export curbs under the US naval blockade. Upstream availability was further squeezed by ongoing output curtailments from key Middle Eastern producers—including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, and Kuwait—and a long-range Ukrainian strike on Russia’s Perm refinery.

Concurrently, ship-tracking data showed daily vessel transits through the critical Strait of Hormuz halved to just seven commodity carriers on Thursday, driving higher spot offer levels for crude cargoes into Asia.

Although alternative logistics routes, unconstrained UAE volumes, rising US shale output, and recovering Venezuelan flows offered partial mitigation, the sustained escalation has placed upward pressure on global bunker and feedstock costs.

Written by: Aiman Haikal