Crude oil prices surged past $100 a barrel on Monday for the first time since July 2022 as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran disrupted production and shipping across the Middle East, rattling global markets and raising fears of a prolonged energy crisis.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose to more than $107, now around $115, a barrel after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a 16.5% jump from its Friday closing price of $92.69.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose to about $106.22 a barrel, a 16.9% increase from its Friday close of $90.90.
The gains accelerated into Monday, with Brent rising as much as $18.35, or 19.8%, to $111.04 a barrel, while WTI climbed as much as $20.34, or 22.4%, to $111.24 a barrel.
Those moves followed Brent’s 28% and WTI’s 36% climb the prior week, WTI’s biggest weekly rise on record. Both benchmarks were trading around $60 a barrel in early January. This year, the price of U.S. crude oil has risen more than 80%.
Iraq and Kuwait have begun cutting oil output, adding to earlier liquefied natural gas reductions from Qatar, as the war blocked shipments from the Middle East.
Kuwait’s state oil company said it was trimming output, while the United Arab Emirates’ state-run oil company said it was “managing” some output, hinting at possible production cuts. Kuwait and the UAE both rank in the top five oil-producing countries in OPEC.
Analysts predict the UAE and Saudi Arabia will also have to cut output soon as they run out of oil storage.
Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing facilities were attacked, with the kingdom saying it had intercepted 21 drones targeting the 1 million-barrel-a-day Shaybah oilfield, while the Berri field was also attacked.
