Oil prices rise after reported attacks on ships in Strait of Hormuz

BREAKING: Oil prices jump after reported attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, with European gas prices near a four-year high as Middle East supply fears mount.

Oil just jumped after reported attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

That stretch of water between Iran and Oman is the most important oil chokepoint on the planet, roughly a fifth of the world's crude squeezes through it. You can see it here, and when tankers get hit in that channel, every trading desk from London to Singapore feels it within minutes. Prices moved exactly the way you'd expect, straight up.

And it's not just crude. European gas prices are sitting near a four-year high, because the continent heads into winter already nervous about Middle East supply, and this is the last headline anyone wanted. Refiners, like this one, pay more for every barrel, and eventually so do you at the pump.

Details on the ships are still thin, who hit them and why matters enormously, and nobody credible has claimed it yet. But here's the fact that stays with me. One narrow strait had a bad morning, and the whole world's energy bill just got heavier.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.