US President Trump said tanker crews should “show some guts” and sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
But overnight, an Iranian drone boat hit the cargo vessel Mayuree Naree Bangkok. Twenty sailors were evacuated but three are reportly still missing, perhaps trapped in the engine room.
The timeline of “a few weeks” set out by Macron isn’t what the oil market wants to hear. Trump has said he will wrap up the war soon and how soon that is will go a long way towards determining where oil prices land.
In the meantime, it’s going to be tough for ships to make the decision to cross the strait after what just happened. Iran appears to have underwater drones capable of striking ships. Obviously the navies of the world have ways to combat that but it’s a long coastline with Iran and it will take a huge amount of coordination.
WIT crude was last up $3.37 to $86.85.
We still haven’t gotten any clarity on whether Iran has placed mines in the Strait after yesterday’s reports that “a few dozen” had been put in place.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.
