International oil prices climbed back above $100 a barrel in intraday trading on March 12, three days after last doing so, despite a decision to release large volumes of strategic petroleum reserves.

According to Bloomberg News, benchmark Brent futures for May delivery jumped to $101.59 a barrel at 11:36 a.m. Korea time, then slipped to $97.89 as of 3:46 p.m. It was up 6.4 percent from the March 11 close of $91.98.

At the same time, April West Texas Intermediate futures stood at $92.70 a barrel, up about 6.3 percent from the previous close.

Brent futures earlier jumped as high as $119 a barrel intraday on March 9, then ended down 11 percent at $87.8 a barrel as optimism emerged that the war in Iran would end early.

The International Energy Agency said on March 11 that 32 member countries, including the G7, had agreed to release 400 million barrels of strategic reserves, but an assessment is emerging that it failed to ease market concerns.

Industry consensus holds that a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, cited as the cause of the surge in oil prices, would cause supply losses so large that reserve releases alone cannot fill the gap.

The 400 million barrels amount to only 20 days' worth of crude oil procured through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is expanding the scope of its maritime strikes across the Gulf. It went beyond obstructing navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and attacked 2 foreign oil tankers anchored in Iraqi territorial waters at the innermost part of the Persian Gulf on March 11.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on March 11, "We won, but we have to finish the mission," distancing himself from the possibility of an early end. Iran warned, "Be prepared for $200 oil," saying it would continue indiscriminate attacks on U.S. and allied vessels.

Major Asian stock markets, including South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, mostly fell on the impact of the oil price surge.

South Korea's KOSPI ended down 0.48 percent at 5,583.25 and the KOSDAQ closed up 1.02 percent at 1,148.40.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended down 1.04 percent from the previous session. Taiwan's Taiex fell 1.56 percent.

As of 3:34 p.m. Korea time, China's Shanghai Composite (-0.07 percent), Shenzhen Composite (-0.67 percent) and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (-0.92 percent) were also lower.

[Yonhap]