Energy stocks advanced in premarket trading on Monday as Brent crude futures climbed 3.5% to $91.20 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate gained 3.5% to $86.30, following overnight U.S. strikes on Iranian missile launchers on Larak Island.
Major U.S. energy producers led gains, with Chevron rising 1.7%, Exxon Mobil up 1.5%, and Occidental Petroleum gaining 1.8%. Service providers Halliburton and SLB also climbed 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively. Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 posted smaller advances of 0.6% and 1%.
The escalation followed a U.S. strike on two missile launchers on Larak Island, part of a broader pattern of tit-for-tat exchanges between Washington and Tehran. Iranian state media reported that the Revolutionary Guards retaliated by targeting two U.S. air bases in Jordan. President Trump posted on social media that Iran's Kharg Island energy hub was being "blown to smithereens," though no independent confirmation of an attack emerged and Iran denied any disruption to its oil operations.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Reuters on Sunday that Washington is "likely to roll out new secondary sanctions against Iran on a weekly basis going forward." The latest strikes mark the most recent in a series of exchanges dating back to late July, with the Strait of Hormuz—a chokepoint for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply—remaining a focal point amid ongoing regional tensions.
