Oil prices resume climb amid tempered Iran peace effort hopes in Oil & Companies News 27/03/2026 Oil prices once again ticked higher on Friday, approaching $110 a barrel, as market jitters around the Iran war persisted despite President Donald Trump’s extension to a deadline for U.S. strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure. By 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT), the futures contract expiring in May for Brent crude, the global benchmark, had risen by 1.8% to $109.92 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also advanced by 1.7% to $96.08 a barrel. Brent is on pace for a decline over the past five-day period, although it has pared back much of retreat logged earlier in the week underpinned by hopes for progress in efforts to end the nearly month-old conflict in the Middle East. Trump announced late on Thursday that a White House deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. attacks on energy facilities would be extended until April 6. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed the extension came at the request of the Iranian government, adding that Tehran was engaged in “ongoing” talks with the United States that are “going very well.” Media reports to the contrary, he insisted, were “erroneous.” Trump previously issued an ultimatum to Iran last weekend in which he vowed to strike power plants in the country’s if it did not unblock the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil flows. Trump later said he would not do so until Friday after what he described as “very strong” discussions with Iran. “Any credible de‑escalation could trigger a renewed risk‑on move, but for now uncertainty remains elevated,” MUFG analysts said in a recent note. Tehran, for its part, has publicly denied that any such negotiations with Washington are happening. Strait of Hormuz on agenda at G7 meeting Diplomats from the Group of 7 nations are set to meet in France, with the White House’s calls for international aid to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz likely to dominate discussions. So far, those demands have largely been rebuffed. In a note, analysts at ING said that while Trump’s extension eases some near-term supply pressures, the extra compensation investors demand to hold oil in the face of geopolitical instability is “intact.” “The scale of supply at risk remains significant – around 8 million barrels per day are already offline, and a much larger volume of flows through the Gulf remains vulnerable – so the geopolitical premium is unlikely to fade meaningfully,” the analysts including Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson wrote. Investors retained caution over the prospect of an energy-induced inflation spike in countries around the world. Bets that a surge in price gains would lead central banks to consider interest rate hikes fueled a jump in government bond yields, with the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield climbing to its highest level since July. Sovereign debt yields in Germany and France also edged higher. (Ayushman Ojha contributed reporting.) Source: Investing.com 2026-03-27 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.