Three oil tankers were struck by unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday and Wednesday, shipping intelligence firm Marisks said, as carried by Reuters on Thursday. The Liberia-flagged vessels - sailing with transponders switched off - were the products tanker Al Ruwais, the VLCC Mersin Prosperity (both managed by ADNOC Logistics), and the Aframax Sinbad, OilPrice reported.
Britain's UKMTO confirmed three separate time-late attack reports: one vessel hit Monday evening caught fire (since extinguished, crew safe), plus two more verified strikes. The attacker in each case is unidentified - and the hits landed just as Iran said it was reviewing the US ceasefire counterproposal, Straits Live reported.
Brent whipsaws: $96 to $100 in hours
Oil can't sit still. Brent tumbled to $96 earlier Thursday as Gulf crude flows bounced back toward prewar levels - then ripped back to $100 (+2%) on the strike headlines, with WTI near $91.40 (+1%). Fuel shipments remain the choke point: crude is moving under US military escort, but refined products are still constrained, OilPrice reported.
The backdrop is still dire: IMF PortWatch logged just 1 strait transit on September 27 against a pre-crisis baseline of 85 per day. This week's strikes follow the September 28 hit on the Kuwaiti supertanker Al Funtas, Straits Live reported.
Fuel war goes global
China halted fuel exports until further notice. Trump admitted a US diesel export ban - now threatened unless Europe releases stockpiles - could raise American gasoline prices, which are already at record highs for the season. Taiwan is spending $13 billion to shield consumers; Pakistan weighs direct LNG imports for power plants; Indian refiners are scrambling for Hormuz-capable tankers, OilPrice reported.
The spiral keeps tightening since Trump's no-deal stance - and with Saudi's East-West pipeline only at half capacity (3.5 of 7 million bpd) after the drone strike, every projectile in the strait reprices the world's fuel, CNBC reported.