Oil prices may face another round of severe volatility as merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz are attacked again

BlockBeats report, July 12, according to The New York Times: a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz was attacked again on Saturday local time. The United States then launched a new round of strikes on Iranian targets. Escalation of the situation in the Middle East may cause international oil prices to swing violently again after the Sunday open.

Data show that the number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz per day has fallen to 22, far below the level of more than 130 ships per day before the conflict. Brent crude ended this week at around $76 per barrel, up about 5% from before the conflict broke out.

The report says Iran insists that merchant ships pass through the designated routes, and that some ships, which chose routes near the Omani coast under U.S. military escort, have continued to become targets of attacks. Analysts believe that although oil prices remain far below the nearly $120 per barrel peak during the war, Iran has demonstrated that it still has the ability to influence global energy markets through the Strait of Hormuz situation.