TOKYO, March 17, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Oil climbed again in Asia on Tuesday after prices retreated a day earlier, with investors remaining focused on the Strait of Hormuz.

At around 0030 GMT, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 1.95 percent at $95.32 after it fell 5.3 percent the previous day.

Brent Crude was 1.84 percent higher at $102.05 after it dropped back 2.8 percent Monday.

Japan said Monday it was beginning the release of its strategic oil reserves and the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said member countries could unlock more oil from strategic stocks "if needed."

IEA member countries already agreed last week to make their biggest-ever release of 400 million barrels.

This went some way to reassuring investors as did a Pakistani oil tanker which became the first non-Iranian tanker to transit the Strait of Hormuz with its automatic transponder system activated, according to monitor Marine Traffic.

But attacks on Middle Eastern oil facilities continued, with drones hitting major oil fields in the United Arab Emirates and Iraq on Monday.

US allies have pushed back against US President Donald Trump's demands to help reopen the key waterway to oil and natural gas tankers.

On stock markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.57 percent and the Kospi in South Korea was 2.40 percent higher.

That followed a rise on Wall Street, while most European stock markets also climbed Monday as the US-Israel war on Iran entered its third week.