A social media post from President Donald Trump’s energy secretary that was quickly deleted has sent oil markets into a frenzy, according to a new report.
Earlier Tuesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright wrote on X that the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway to the global oil supply that Iran has effectively closed as the U.S. and Israel continue their military campaign against the Middle Eastern country.
“President Trump is maintaining stability of global energy during the military operations against Iran,” Wright wrote. “The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.”
Wright’s post was quickly deleted and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Navy has not escorted any vessel through the Strait of Hormuz.
Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to correct Wright’s false statement, it had at least some impact on the oil markets, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
During the roughly 10 minutes Wright’s post was up, an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, linked to oil futures saw $84 million of its market capitalization erased, the WSJ reported. ETFs are collections of investments, often structured around a strategy, such as tracking the energy sector of the stock market.
Benchmark U.S. crude futures, which serve as the reference price for crude oil in the country, plummeted by as much as 19 percent at one point in the day, according to the WSJ.
Futures later settled at $83.45 a barrel, down 12 percent, the WSJ reported, noting that it was the sharpest daily decline in four years.
The Trump administration has blamed a staffer for Wright’s now-deleted post, telling multiple outlets, “A video clip was deleted from Secretary Wright’s official X account after it was determined to be incorrectly captioned by Department of Energy staff.”
The Independent has reached out to the Department of Energy for further comment.
Oil has been a major concern amid the Iran war, which began over a week ago. At least 1,230 people are dead in Iran, per the Associated Press, and at least seven American service members have been killed in the conflict.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has reportedly threatened to attack any ship that tries to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and there are reports of Iran placing mines in the waterway that carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supply.
U.S. Central Command said Tuesday the military destroyed 16 mine-laying ships near the Strait of Hormuz, and Trump warned on Truth Social if mines are not removed, “the Military consequences to Iran will be at a level never seen before.”
