Energy Secretary Wright says U.S. 'not ready' to escort tankers through Strait of Hormuz yet

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Energy Secretary Chris Wright: U.S. ‘not ready’ to escort tankers through Strait of Hormuz yet

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The U.S. Navy is not ready to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview Thursday.

“It’ll happen relatively soon but it can’t happen now,” Wright said. “We’re simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities.”

Wright said it is likely that the Navy will be in a position to escort tankers by the end of this month. “I’ll be over at the Pentagon later today — that is what the military is working on,” the Energy secretary said.

Brent oil prices, the international benchmark, touched $100 per barrel earlier Thursday as attacks on commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf continue.

Wright’s comments come after a post on his social media account wrongly claimed on Tuesday that the Navy had escorted a tanker through the Strait. The post was quickly deleted from his account, but it sent oil prices plunging more than 17% at their lows Tuesday.

More than 30 countries agreed Wednesday to inject 400 million oil barrels from their stockpiles into the market in an effort to address the massive supply disruption triggered by the Iran war. The U.S. will release 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of that effort.

It is the largest release of emergency stockpiles in history, but the action has failed to calm the oil market as the security situation in the Persian Gulf remains dangerous.

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