July started on a positive note, with Brent crude oil averaging around $75 per barrel during the first ten days of the month. As has become customary since hostilities flared up at the end of February, the temporary pause in military strikes in the Middle East did not last long, with oil prices rising to $87 per barrel on 23 July.

No sooner had the price of crude oil dropped to below $70 per barrel than Iran started to attack commercial ships via drones, threatening the fragile memorandum of understanding with the US and sending Brent crude back to $77 per barrel.

With the Middle East having provided a paradoxical meaning to the word "ceasefire" and the world's second most important maritime shipping route for oil and fuel remaining at under 10% of its normal operations, it is not surprising that the oil price continues to act like a yo-yo in a range above $80 per barrel.