By Ronnie Harui

Oil climbed in Asia on Thursday as the widening Middle East conflict continued to stoke supply disruption fears.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 7.1% to $93.47 a barrel, and front-month Brent crude oil futures advanced 7.2% to $98.64 a barrel.

Two foreign tankers carrying Iraqi fuel oil were ablaze in Iraqi waters after being hit by projectiles, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Iraqi ports officials. Bahrain's interior ministry said Iran has targeted fuel tanks at a facility in Muharraq governorate.

Escalating Iranian attacks and the U.S. government's decision to hold off on military escorts for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz are dimming hopes for the quick revival of traffic through the waterway.

"The current disruption to global oil markets is unprecedented from two dimensions--the extent of supply sidelined and the lack of spare capacity," said Vivek Dhar, head of commodities and sustainable economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in a note. "Our expectation that this crisis could last for months instead of weeks likely means that markets are underestimating the disruption to global energy markets," Dhar added.

The gains in crude oil prices came even after the International Energy Agency said Wednesday that its member countries would release 400 million barrels of oil from their emergency stocks, the largest reserves distribution in history, in an effort to lower crude prices.

The emergency release planned by the IEA is perceived as being insufficient to cover the virtual stoppage of oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz and to compensate for production shutdowns in the Persian Gulf and crude-oil storage shortages.

"There are concerns about the speed at which this oil will reach the market and whether it will be enough to tie up the market until we see oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz again," said ING's commodities strategy team in a note.

Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 11, 2026 22:36 ET (02:36 GMT)

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