SINGAPORE – Crude oil prices in global markets continued their upward trend on Thursday as ongoing tensions in the Middle East raised concerns over energy supplies.
According to the report, Brent crude witnessed another jump to reach $108.68 per barrel.
A British news website reported that Murban crude climbed to $122 per barrel in the international market.
Meanwhile, the price of US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also reached its highest level since mid-May. WTI gained 6.7%, closing at around $103 per barrel.
Yemen’s Houthi movement has claimed to have established full control over Bab el-Mandeb, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime passages linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Senior Ansar Allah leader Mohammed al-Bukhaiti reportedly made the claim as Iranian media reported further Houthi advances in Yemen’s western Taiz province. Reports said Houthi fighters have taken control of key areas as well as the Al-Khalid and Jabal al-Nasr military bases.
The reported advance has also reached the approaches to Al-Mokha port on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Reports further claimed that the Houthis had taken control of Al-Mokha airport and that large numbers of opposing fighters had surrendered after resisting the advance.
Bab el-Mandeb is a critical route for international maritime trade, with significant volumes of oil, gas and food commodities passing through the waterway. The reported change in control of the area could therefore have wider implications for shipping and global commerce.
Al-Mokha port is also considered strategically important because of its location on the Red Sea and its potential role in monitoring maritime traffic in the region.
The reports come after an earlier Houthi claim of control over Zuqar, an island of strategic geographic importance in the Red Sea.
