Crude oil prices hit a six-week high on Wednesday, breaching the crucial $100 per barrel mark for the first time since July 24, as escalating tensions in the Middle East, along with uncertainties over oil transits through the Red Sea route, kept prices under pressure.

Oil prices were up 2%, with the global benchmark Brent quoted at the $99.80/bbl mark, while the US-contract West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was hovering near the $95/bbl level as media reported attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on Saudi’s oil facilities.

The latest round of attacks also added scrutiny to the crude oil transits through the Red Sea route, which has been a key alternative for shipments that used to move through the Strait of Hormuz before the beginning of the US-Iran war.

Since the start of geopolitical uncertainties between Washington and Tehran, Brent has hit a high of $126.41 per barrel. Now, with the revival of attacks, brokerages have lifted their year-end crude oil forecast, and markets are concerned over supply risks and mounting inflationary concerns.

“Market participants ​appear to be pricing in a more prolonged conflict in the Middle East as well as the risk that ​the latest escalation in military strikes disrupts oil flows from the Middle East,” Reuters quoted Hamad Hussain, senior climate and commodities economist at ‌Capital Economic, as saying.

He added that the major risk is whether the recent attacks will lead to fewer transits through the Gulf of Oman, which has so far kept the lid on oil prices.

In a social media post, Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, explained that in August OPEC production by declined 900/000 barrels per day to almost 19.9 million barrels per day, which is roughly 10 mb/d below the start of US-Iran tensions.

OPEC crude production fell by 900,000 b/d last month to 19.9 mb/d, almost 10 mb/d below pre-war levels, and partly reversing the increase that followed the signing of the now-failed MOU. The decline was primarily driven by a 1.1 mb/d slump in Saudi output amid attacks on pipeline… pic.twitter.com/PC76O6xRXf

This, in turn, reversed the increase in production, which had come through the signing of an MoU, which now stands void. He noted that Saudis 1.1 mb/d output decline led the fall, as attacks on pipeline infrastructure offset the increases from Iraq, Kuwait, Nigeria and Venezuela.