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Oil prices eclipsed $114 (around €98) per barrel for the first time since 2022 on Monday as the Iran war intensified, threatening production and shipping in the Middle East.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, surged past $114 after trading resumed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That was up 23% from its Friday closing price of $92.69.
West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was also selling for about $114 a barrel. That’s 25% higher than its close Friday at $90.90.
The war’s toll on civilian targets grew early Monday as Bahrain accused Iran of striking a destination plant vital to drinking water supplies, and oil depots in Tehran smoldered following overnight Israeli strikes.
The increases followed the US crude price jumping by 36% and Brent crude rising by 28% last week. Oil prices have surged as the war, now in its second week, ensnared countries and places that are critical to the production and movement of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf.
Roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil — about 20% of the world’s oil — typically are shipped every day through the Strait of Hormuz, according to independent research firm Rystad Energy. The threat of Iranian missile and drone attacks has all but stopped tankers from traveling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran, carry oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.