Brent crude rose to $109 per barrel at the first opening of Asian markets after the weekend, and in subsequent trading climbed to $119.5.
As Bloomberg reports, this marks the largest intraday surge since April 2020. At around $119 per barrel, oil is trading at levels not seen since June 17, 2022, RBC notes.
Bloomberg also points out that even higher prices were recorded in March 2022—when oil exceeded $139 per barrel. The historical peak was reached in 2008—above $147 per barrel.
Donald Trump said the short-term rise in oil prices is “a very small price to pay for the security and peace of the United States and the entire world.” According to him, prices will “quickly fall once the threat of Iran’s nuclear program is eliminated.” Anyone who “thinks otherwise,” he added, is a “fool.”
Earlier, analysts had considered levels around $100 per barrel a plausible scenario in the event of a prolonged war in Iran—if the conflict were to last several weeks or longer but without a long-term blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s key maritime routes for oil exports. In the event of a multi-year conflict, the same experts estimate prices could settle in the $120–$150 per barrel range. At present, the Strait of Hormuz effectively remains closed, although Tehran has not officially announced such a move. Analysts cited by Bloomberg do not rule out further increases in oil prices.