US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell sharply in Tuesday afternoon trading after US energy secretary Chris Wright posted on social media that the US Navy had escorted a tanker through the strait of Hormuz.
Wright deleted the post shortly thereafter. WTI prompt contract was around $81/bl at 1:40pm ET, down by 14pc from Monday's settlement price. The US Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Dan Caine said earlier on Tuesday that the US military is only starting to assess the feasibility of providing naval escorts for the oil and LNG tankers through the Mideast Gulf and the strait of Hormuz.
"We'll look at the range of options to set the military conditions to be able to do that," Caine said at a Pentagon briefing. The military commanders will then present their conclusions to President Donald Trump and defense secretary Pete Hegseth "with both what are the resources required, what is the command and control required, and what are the risks and how do we mitigate those risks," Caine said.
Tanker shipowners speaking on a panel at a shipping forum in New York on Monday unanimously agreed that they would not be comfortable with their vessels transiting the strait of Hormuz given the region's security risk.
