Oil edges higher on Hormuz Strait shipping attacks

Crude oil benchmarks climbed on Wednesday, November 11, as fading hopes for near-term de-escalation around Iran and mounting attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz renewed supply risk premiums.

By 0119 GMT, front-month Brent futures rose 71 cents, or 0.78%, to $92.20 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 49 cents, or 0.57%, to $86.53 a barrel.

Market sentiment was driven by security data from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which reported attacks on 37 vessels across the Strait and surrounding waters in October—the highest monthly count since the conflict began. An additional 10 maritime attacks have already been recorded in November.