Brent Closes at US$101.23 After Attacks on Ten Vessels Near Hormuz

Brent crude closed Wednesday, September 9, 2026, at US$101.23 per barrel, a 3% gain and its first close above US$100 since July, after Iran attacked ten vessels near the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg Línea.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported attacking two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers, with at least one sailor killed and another missing, according to The Guardian. U.S. Central Command stated that the attacks on its ships were repelled, while the U.S. military reported the destruction of five Iranian oil tankers. Before the conflict, the strait handled up to 20% of the oil and gas moved by sea; today, around 10 million barrels per day pass through it, half the pre-war volume, according to Russell Hardy, chief executive of Vitol Group, as cited by Bloomberg Línea. For Mexico, Brent serves as the reference for its export basket and much of the refined products it imports, meaning a sustained level above US$100 pressures the country's energy bill.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 3.6% to US$96.38 per barrel, according to Bloomberg Línea, and the Dutch TTF natural gas contract, the European benchmark, gained nearly 4% to 78.73 euros per megawatt-hour, its highest level since January 2023, according to The Guardian. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.48% and the 10-year Treasury touched 4.85%. Houthi attacks on four Saudi cities left 73 people injured and fires at oil facilities, The Guardian reported. Chinese crude imports recovered to around 9 million barrels per day in August, up from 7.15 million in June. Wood Mackenzie projects a decline of 1.4 million barrels per day in global crude processing for the fourth quarter of 2026.

The key variables to monitor are the daily transit volume through Hormuz and the publication of the new exclusion zone announced by the Revolutionary Guard, which extends for the first time into the Gulf off Chabahar. Wood Mackenzie sees dated Brent returning to US$50 to US$60 once flows normalize.

This article was produced with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.