Brent crude traded at 90.07 dollars on Monday morning, up 2.24 per cent, and West Texas Intermediate at 85.02 dollars, up 1.94 per cent, after US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island near Hormuz and Iran fired eight missiles at US bases in Jordan, all intercepted. Kharg Island handles about 90 per cent of Iran's oil exports. Gulf inflation stayed muted in June and July despite oil and gas swings from the conflict, with Saudi Arabia at 1.8 per cent in July.
Brent crude traded at 90.07 dollars a barrel on Monday morning in the Gulf, up 2.24 per cent. West Texas Intermediate stood at 85.02 dollars, up 1.94 per cent. The move followed a weekend in which US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran fired eight missiles at US bases in Jordan, and all of them were intercepted.[1]
Kharg Island, which handles about 90 per cent of Iran's oil exports, has a loading capacity of 7 million barrels a day and storage for 30 million barrels. Daniel Richards, senior economist at Emirates NBD, said further US secondary sanctions on Iran are also expected, keeping geopolitical risk embedded in energy prices. Brent peaked near 126 dollars in April before easing as diplomatic efforts reduced the fear of escalation.[1]
Consumer inflation across the Gulf Cooperation Council stayed muted in June and July despite oil and gas price swings tied to the US-Iran conflict, according to Kamco Invest. Saudi Arabia's annual rate was 1.8 per cent in July, below the central bank's 2 per cent benchmark; Kuwait's was 2.2 per cent in June, Oman's 3.2 per cent in July, Bahrain's 2.3 per cent and Dubai's 5.3 per cent. Dubai's rate fell from a peak of 5.7 per cent in June. Kamco Invest expects intermittent US-Iran hostilities to increase oil prices, decrease global growth and increase interest rates. Its July reading put annual inflation at 3.4 per cent in the United States, 2.9 per cent in the eurozone and 3.0 per cent across the European Union. Oxford Economics forecast in June that Gulf inflation would average 2.6 per cent in 2026 and decrease to 2.1 per cent in 2027 as temporary supply-side pressures fade.[2]
