WTI comes off from day’s high as investors seeks clarity on Hormuz reopening

• The Oil price retreats from the day’s high to near $77.55, but is still holding significant intraday gains.
• Iran wants war compensation and the withdrawal of the US naval blockade as key demands for Hormuz reopening.
• Iran-backed Houthis continue to attack Saudi Arabian energy infrastructure.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), futures on NYMEX, gives back some of its early gains, but it still 1.6% higher at around $77.55 during the European trading session on Monday. The oil price retreats from its day’s high as fears of a prolonged global energy supply disruption have escalated.

Renewed uncertainty regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage to almost 20% of global energy supply, with Iran setting out new conditions before the United States (US), has boosted oil prices.

Over the weekend, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran demands reparations to Iran for the war by the United States (US) before allowing navigation through the Hormuz, West Asia News Agency reported.

Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the council, set six conditions include an end to US threats against Iran and insults to what Zolghadr described as the country’s national and religious values; a permanent end to attacks against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq; the lifting of the US naval blockade and withdrawal of US naval and air forces from around Iran; compensation for damage from what he called two “imposed wars”; the lifting of sanctions; and the unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets, Al Jazeera reported.

Meanwhile, ongoing tensions between Iran-aligned Houthis and Saudi Arabia are also impacting the global energy supply chain. Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the Houthis, said they targeted an Aramco refinery in the city of Jazan with a drone, The Guardian reported.

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