Published July 16, 2026 Updated about 3 hours ago By Reuters HOUSTON: Oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday, reacting to stronger-than-expected inventory and largely shrugging off a new wave of US attacks against Iranian military installations that aimed to limit Tehran’s ability to strike shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent futures settled at USD 84.95 a barrel, up 22 cents, or 0.26 percent. West Texas Intermediate futures finished at USD 79.60 a barrel, up 26 cents, or 0.33 percent. The US Energy Information Administration reported a 1.7-million-barrel drop in US crude inventory last week, less than a forecast draw of 2.6 million barrels. “There seems to be a sense that we’ve seen this movie before,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group, referring to hostilities in the Middle East. “There’s a sense in that EIA report the supplies instead of evaporating are stabilizing,” he added. The EIA also reported a build in distillates of 4.6 million barrels last week compared to a forecast increase of 100,000 barrels. Washington had earlier reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports and launched overnight strikes, prompting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to threaten to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”. Oil prices settled up 2 percent at a one-month high on Tuesday as attacks exacerbated a supply disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed prior to the war’s outbreak. The hostilities between Iran and the US reignited last week, fraying an already fragile truce reached in June after several months of fighting. Late on Tuesday, the US military said it had hit dozens of military targets near the strategic waterway and Iranian coastal areas in strikes lasting seven hours. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck…