#oil-price-surge

#oil-price-surge

Brent crude spiked more than 5% to almost $110 a barrel on Wednesday after Israel struck the world's largest natural gas reserve in a coordinated operation with the United States. The attack marks the first time Iran's upstream oil and gas infrastructure, as opposed to those in the gulf, has been targeted since the war began on Feb. 28.

Japan has begun releasing oil from its emergency reserves amid the global energy crisis sparked by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran in response to US-Israeli attacks. The release was announced on Monday in a notice published in the Japanese government's official gazette.

Bitcoin price rising about 8% since the first strikes against Iran, reaching a one-month high above $73,000. The move placed the digital asset ahead of several traditional safe-haven and risk assets during a period of geopolitical stress.

Oil futures touched $100 per barrel this week as Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, the waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas transits. The International Energy Agency called the conflict the biggest-ever disruption to oil supply, and Iran's security chief has stated the war won't end soon.

The sharp decline witnessed in U.S. equity markets signals an important shift in global market sentiment, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 700 points to close below the 47,000 level for the first time in 2026. At the same time, both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also fell to their lowest levels this year.

Oil WTI crude climbed from $71 a barrel on March 2 to $94.65 by March 9 in a single week, after the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed and Iranian energy infrastructure was struck. Brent briefly touched elevated intraday highs before pulling back when Trump signaled the conflict was winding down.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global average price of jet fuel jumped 58.4% week-on-week to $157.41 a barrel, far above the $88 average the industry had expected for 2026.

Financial markets are pricing in roughly a 70 per cent chance that the Bank of England will increase interest rates by a quarter percentage point before the end of the year, a stark reversal from expectations only a fortnight ago when traders anticipated multiple rate cuts.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose by as much as 20 percent on Sunday, topping $111 a barrel, as fears grew of prolonged disruption to global energy supplies.