Oil News: Crude Oil Futures Gap Higher as Hormuz Traffic Dries Up

Crude oil opened Sunday night with the Strait of Hormuz back at the center of the trade. The U.S. completed another round of attacks inside Iran. Iran answered with fresh strikes across the Gulf. Tanker traffic through Hormuz fell to four vessels Sunday from eight the day before. Gulf exporters had started pushing more crude after last month’s interim agreement and for a few weeks the market believed the worst of the supply risk was behind it. That recovery is over. The ceasefire collapsed, the shipping lanes are narrowing, and the two routes that carry most of the Gulf’s crude to market are both under threat at the same time.