Oil prices climb after attack in Strait of Hormuz halts evacuation plan

Brent crude rises after cargo ship comes under attack in key waterway.Oil prices have jumped after the United Nations maritime agency called off its planned evacuation of ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz following an attack on a cargo vessel in the waterway.Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 4 percent on Thursday after the International Maritime Organization paused its evacuation plan amid renewed violence in the strait.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Who will control Africa’s AI infrastructure and at what costlist 2 of 4Shia pilgrims gather in Iraq’s holy city of Karbala to mark Ashuralist 3 of 4France seizes fifth Russian ‘shadow fleet’ tanker linked to Ukraine warlist 4 of 4Japan draw 1-1 with Sweden at World Cup to finish second in Group Fend of listBrent futures for August delivery stood at $74.89 per barrel as of 02:00 GMT, after earlier dropping below $72.48, their closing price the day before the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran.After dropping sharply following the US and Iran’s signing of a memorandum of understanding on ending the war last week, the price of Brent currently stands at about 3 percent above its pre-war level.Asian markets opened lower on Friday, with key indices in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan seeing steep losses.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 and Seoul’s Kospi both fell more than 3 percent in morning trading, while the Taiex dropped about 1 percent.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was down about 1 percent.The latest attack in the strait, through which about one-fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas supplies transit in peacetime, dealt a blow to hopes for a return to normal shipping in the region after a recent resurgence in traffic.On Wednesday, 70 vessels transited the waterway, a more than twofold increase from the previous day and the highest daily figure since March 1, according to ship tracking platforms MarineTraffic and Kpler.