Oil prices climbed to their highest level since July on Tuesday, extending earlier gains after the United States carried out new military strikes against Iran. WTI, short for West Texas Intermediate and the standard benchmark for American crude, is the price measure that reached that mark as hostilities in the Middle East deepened.
"Extended gains" tells you the market was already moving higher before Tuesday's attacks added to it. A fresh U.S. strike against Iran was enough to push prices further, landing WTI at a point last seen in midsummer.
WTI is a specific grade of crude oil, light and low in sulfur, produced mainly in the United States. It sets the benchmark that refinery contracts and fuel markets follow, and those prices eventually reach the gas station. When oil headlines say a new high was hit, they are usually pointing to this number.
The United States and Iran are in active military conflict in a region that sits at the center of global oil supply. When strikes happen there, crude markets price in the chance that production or transit gets disrupted. That is what played out on Tuesday.
Tuesday's attacks were the latest in a series. Earlier U.S. strikes against Iran had already taken place before this week, which means each new development in that sequence carries its own potential to move WTI. The latest one moved it to a level not seen since July.
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