Oil settles up 9pc

Oil prices settled up about 9 percent on Thursday, at their highest in nearly four years, as Iran stepped up attacks on oil and transport facilities across the Middle East, and the country’s supreme leader vowed to keep the vital Strait of Hormuz shut. Brent futures settled at USD100.46 a barrel, up USD8.48, or 9.2 percent, after touching a session high of USD101.60. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at USD95.70, up USD8.48 or 9.7 percent. Both contracts settled at their highest since August 2022. “The market is seriously unbalanced and that will continue until the Strait is reopened and upstream and downstream operations return to normal. It will not happen quickly,” said Jim Burkhard, vice president and global head of Crude Oil Research at S&P Global Energy.