Oil prices rose to nearly $64 a barrel on Tuesday, jumping in the tail as the head of the U.S. Central Command said the United States may have shot down a second Iranian drone over the Strait of Hormuz last week.
Rising tensions in the Middle East have offset what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls a weak global growth outlook, with oil prices largely flat today as a result of weak IMF forecasts.
Iran's seizure of a British tanker last week raised concerns about the disruption of crude oil supplies in the Strait of Hormuz. About one fifth of the world's oil supplies are transported through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States has said that a naval vessel "destroyed" the UAV after being threatened by an UAV, but Iran says it has no information about the loss of an UAV.
"We are confident that we have shot down one UAV and we may have shot down the second one," General Kenneth McKenzie told CBS in an interview.
Brent crude rose $0.57, or nearly 1%, to $63.83 a barrel. U.S. crude oil futures closed up $0.55, or about 1%, at $56.77 a barrel.
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