Crude oil prices climbed for a fifth consecutive trading session on Thursday, with Brent crude approaching $100 per barrel for the first time in nearly two months after Houthi attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea heightened fears of a wider disruption to global crude supplies.
In early European trading, Brent crude rose 4.21 percent to $98.03 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) advanced 3.16 percent to $89.57 per barrel, extending a rally that has lifted oil prices by almost 20 percent since hostilities between the United States and Iran escalated two weeks ago.
The latest gains were driven by growing concerns that the conflict is spreading beyond the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another strategic maritime corridor that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The Iran-backed Houthi movement claimed responsibility for attacks on two Saudi oil tankers near the Bab
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