Oil prices are jumped again on Wednesday after a brief pause in fighting between Iran and the United States was broken by renewed attacks in the Middle East.
The pause, which lasted about three days, was shattered when Iran launched a barrage of missiles at American forces in the Middle East on Tuesday, while the U.S. military partnered with Saudi Arabia to strike Tehran-backed militias in Iraq.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, leaped to more than US$90 per barrel on Wednesday morning as news of the fighting renewed fears about the global flow of oil, while the price of the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate jumped to more than US$84 per barrel.
Western Canada Select was selling at around US$67 per barrel on Wednesday.
The price of Brent crude swung as low as US$72 per barrel earlier this month and as high as US$102 last week amid uncertainty about whether the United States and Iran could reach a deal to allow oil tankers to move freely again from the Middle East to customers worldwide.
The flow through the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 per cent of the global supply of oil normally moves, has slowed to a trickle since the start of the war.
The recent swings in the price of oil have also increased worries that inflation will reaccelerate, just as it had begun to slow amid hopes for an extended ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran.
— with files from The Associated Press.
Based on reporting by Global News.