Oil Prices Rise Amid Renewed Middle East Tensions: "Could Hit $150 per Barrel if Hostilities Resume"

International oil prices surged as military tensions between the United States and Iran escalated once again.

According to Investing.com, as of 10 a.m. KST on June 11, the August futures price for Brent crude oil on the London ICE Futures Exchange was trading at around $95.14 per barrel, up 0.4% from the previous trading day. Meanwhile, the July futures contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $92.39 per barrel, an increase of 2.62% from the previous session.

A gas station in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Photo by Getty Images Yonhap News

WTI at one point soared nearly 4%, surpassing $93 per barrel. However, after U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview on the 10th (local time) that he had spoken directly with Iranian officials and that airstrikes would soon be halted, some of those gains were pared back. President Trump also left room for further U.S. airstrikes against Iran, stating that the option remains open. The United States has conducted retaliatory strikes for a second consecutive day after an Iranian drone attack downed an Army Apache helicopter the previous day. Iran has also launched counterattacks in response.

On his social media platform Truth Social, President Trump claimed that the U.S. military had secretly assisted 200 merchant vessels and over 100 million barrels of oil in passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, JP Morgan pointed out last week that the volume of crude oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz may be higher than publicly reported. However, Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, noted that shipping traffic remains significantly lower than pre-war levels, stating that the world is losing a substantial amount of oil every day.

Rystad Energy forecast that if full-scale hostilities resume, oil prices could surge to as high as $150 per barrel. Jorge Leon, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, stated, "The coming days will be crucial in determining whether diplomacy regains control or whether we are entering a more prolonged phase of escalation." He added, "Unless there is clear evidence that a ceasefire is truly holding, oil price volatility is likely to remain elevated."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.