SINGAPORE — Benchmark Brent crude oil futures rose past US$100 (S$126) a barrel on Wednesday (Sept 9), breaching the symbolic barrier for the first time since July 24 as intensifying conflict in the Middle East fuelled growing concern about oil flows from the region.

Brent crude futures rose US$2.15, or 2.2 per cent, to US$100.07 a barrel by 7.21am GMT (3.21pm SGT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up US$1.70, or 1.83 per cent, at US$94.73 a barrel.

Brent crude prices have risen by a quarter since early last month as hopes fade for a permanent resolution to the six-month-old US-Iran conflict.

This week, attacks by Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi energy facilities set oil installations ablaze, threatening a significant expansion of the conflict.

The Houthi attacks could threaten crude shipments via the Red Sea, which has been a key alternative route to the crucial Strait of Hormuz, where crude flows have been severely curtailed since the Feb 28 start of the Iran war.

A growing number of banks, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and HSBC, have raised their crude price forecasts in recent days.

In the week before a resumption in fighting on Aug 30, roughly eight million to nine million bpd had flowed through Hormuz, double the previous week's volume, according to Rystad Energy's Chief Economist Claudio Galimberti, although more recently it had fallen below two million bpd.

While non-OPEC oil producers including the US, Canada and Guyana have ramped up output, the International Energy Agency said last month it expected global oil supply would fall this year by 4.3 million bpd, or about four per cent.

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