Crude futures rose by about 8pc today following the US' announcement that it will begin a blockade of Iranian ports, after talks between Washington and Tehran to end the Middle East conflict and reopen the strait of Hormuz faltered.
The front-month June Ice Brent contract rose to $102.28/bl at around 11:00am Singapore time (03:00 GMT), up by 7.4pc from the close on 10 April.
US benchmark WTI rose even more sharply. The front-month May contract was at $104.96/bl, a gain of 8.7pc from 10 April.
The US will institute a blockade against vessels from all nations entering or departing Iranian ports, including ports on the Mideast Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, beginning at 10am ET (14:00 GMT) today, US Central Command said.
US forces "will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports", Central Command said.
US president Donald Trump on 12 April had threatened to block passage of ships cleared by Iran and to interdict any ship in international waters that had paid a toll for exiting the Mideast Gulf.
"No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," said Trump, who previously mulled joint US-Iranian control over the transit through Hormuz and access to any revenue collected from ships passing through it.
The blockade was ordered after extensive talks over the weekend between US and Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to achieve results.
