Crude oil gains 4% this week as Strait of Hormuz risks intensify

Crude oil prices jumped more than 2% on Friday, with WTI trading around $82.83 per barrel and Brent at $88.48, putting both benchmarks on track for gains of nearly 4% this week. The rally was driven by renewed supply concerns as US-Iran peace prospects remained distant, while tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz stayed at only a fraction of pre-war levels. The United States? threat to maintain its naval blockade of Iran indefinitely added further upward pressure, overshadowing recent bearish demand forecasts from the IEA and OPEC. While the IEA expects a supply shortfall of 1.8 million barrels a day this quarter, OPEC has lowered its 2026 demand-growth forecast to 580,000 bpd from 780,000 bpd previously. On MCX, August crude futures traded around ₹7,894 per barrel, up 1%, as geopolitical supply risks continued to dominate the market.

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