Brent oil price increased by 1.3 USD, equivalent to 1.5%, to 91.05 USD/barrel. US WTI oil prices also increased by 1.16 USD, equivalent to 1.4%, to 86.59 USD/barrel.
Oil prices continued to increase after the news that Israeli embassies around the world were placed in a state of high alert due to the growing threat of an Iranian attack on Israeli diplomats.
Iran said it would retaliate against Israel for the attack earlier this week that killed senior Iranian military officials.
On April 4, the US imposed new anti-terrorist sanctions related to Iran on Oceanlink Maritime DMCC and its ships, citing that the agency transported goods on behalf of the Iranian military. The US Treasury Department said Washington is using financial sanctions to isolate Iran.
Frank Monkham, senior portfolio manager at Altimo LLC, said that all of these geopolitical factors occurred at the same time, boosting optimism and ultimately profit-taking by investors.
In addition, the news that Mexico's state-owned energy company Pemex asked its business unit to cancel exports of up to 436,000 barrels/day this month also supported oil prices to increase.
Bank of America (BofA) forecasts Brent and WTI oil prices to average $86/barrel and $81/barrel this year. In particular, both types of oil will peak at around $95/barrel this summer.
Domestically, yesterday afternoon, retail prices of gasoline and oil were adjusted by the Ministry of Finance - Industry and Trade in the price management period. Specifically, while the price of E5 RON 92 gasoline increased by 291 VND/liter, the price of RON 95-III gasoline decreased by 15 VND/liter. All 3 oil products increased with diesel increasing the highest, 295 VND/liter; kerosene increasing the least, 136 VND/liter.
Since the beginning of the year, gasoline prices have been adjusted 14 times, including 8 increases, 5 decreases, and 1 mixed increase.
Domestic retail prices of petroleum on April 5 are specifically as follows: E5 RON 92 gasoline is not more than VND23,916/liter; RON 95-III gasoline is not more than VND24,801/liter; diesel is not more than VND20,00088/liter; kerosene is not more than VND21,015/liter; mazut is not more than VND17,296/kg.
