The price of the benchmark international oil contract Brent North Sea slumped more than five per cent on Friday as traders weighed the impact of fresh Middle East attacks on world crude supplies.

Brent dropped to $95.61 a barrel having surged above $100 on Thursday.

The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, shed 4.1 per cent to $88.40 a barrel on Friday.

“Having advanced all week, oil prices finally ran into some profit-taking,” noted Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at trading platform IG.

Crude futures had soared on Thursday after Yemen’s Houthi rebels struck oil tankers in the Red Sea, potentially opening a new front in the US-Iran conflict.

US President Donald Trump meanwhile threatened the Iran-backed fighters with “major military punishment”.

Despite the United States launching fresh strikes on Friday on Iran, there was relief on markets that some ships were still able to pass through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a crucial passage into the Red Sea.

A Houthi spokesman said on Friday that the rebels were not blocking traffic through the strait, after they declared a maritime embargo this week on their foe Saudi Arabia.