{"id":452061,"date":"2026-03-01T13:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/452061\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T13:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T13:54:09","slug":"oil-price-expected-to-surge-following-iran-strikes-and-strait-of-hormuz-closure-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/452061\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil price expected to surge following Iran strikes and strait of Hormuz closure | Oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The price of oil is expected to soar on Monday despite a pledge by major oil-producing nations to increase production as the US-Israel war on Iran<\/a> and effective closure of the strait of Hormuz<\/a> rattle investors.<\/p>\n

US crude oil is on track to rise by 9% when trading resumes later, according to data from the broker IG. The jump comes despite Opec+, the cartel of oil producers, agreeing on Sunday to step up oil output by more than expected to counter the impact of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s revolutionary guards reportedly told ships that passage through the strait of Hormuz was \u201cnot allowed\u201d on Saturday, effectively shutting the key oil choke point and prompting the halt of some oil shipments.<\/p>\n

A tanker in the strait was attacked on Sunday, and at least 150 tankers carrying crude, liquified natural gas and oil products dropped anchor in open waters across the Middle East gulf past the strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Tehran has long warned that it could use its location to shut the strait in retaliation against military aggression. Tamsin Hunt, a senior analyst at S-RM, a global intelligence and cybersecurity consultancy, warned that \u201cclosing the strait in full would be devastating for Iran\u2019s own economy\u201d.<\/p>\n

IG\u2019s weekend markets showed that US crude oil could rise to more than $73 a barrel when trading resumes in New York late on Sunday, up from $67 a barrel on Friday night. That would be its highest level since June 2025, when the US launched strikes on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities.<\/p>\n

Analysts at Barclays said the oil price could reach $80 a barrel in the event of a \u201cmaterial supply disruption\u201d.<\/p>\n

Royal Bank of Canada analysts said: \u201cIt is our understanding that regional leaders warned Washington about the contagion risks of another confrontation with Iran and indicated that $100-plus oil was a clear and present danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

A jump in wholesale oil prices is expected to feed through to prices at the pump. The average UK price of petrol is 132.9p a litre, and diesel 142.4p, the AA said, warning that the Iran disruption could combine with the Treasury\u2019s upcoming reversal of a 5p-a-litre fuel-duty cut to push up prices.<\/p>\n

In London, the FTSE<\/a> 100, which hit a record high on Friday and had been close to breaking 11,000 for the first time, is expected to fall by about 0.5% on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Global investors are expected to seek out safe-haven assets on Monday. Gold<\/a>, which has risen for the past four weeks, is up 2.25% to almost $5,400 an ounce on IG\u2019s weekend markets, and silver is trading 3.2% higher.<\/p>\n

About a fifth of global oil consumption passes through the strait of Hormuz, and a closure would disrupt shipments from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Kuwait as well as from Iran, leading to shortages and higher energy prices.<\/p>\n

A map showing the Strait of Hormuz<\/a><\/p>\n

Eight Opec+ countries have agreed in principle at Sunday\u2019s meeting to raise oil output by 206,000 barrels a day in April, compared with the original expectations of a 137,000 rise, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

Ports company DP World said it had suspended operations at the Jebel Ali port in Dubai and Mediterranean Shipping Company stopped booking for worldwide cargo into the Middle East until further notice.<\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency said it was actively monitoring events in the Middle East and the potential implications for global oil and gas markets and trade flows.<\/p>\n

A trader at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi last week. Photograph: Rehan Khan\/EPA<\/p>\n

The conflict has also driven up the cost of insuring ships in the region, according to Dylan Mortimer, the marine hull UK war leader at the risk management consultancy Marsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary risks centre on the Persian and Arabian Gulf, particularly the threat of vessel boarding and seizure by Iranian forces and the potential closure of the strait of Hormuz,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Oman said on Sunday that an oil tanker in the strait of Hormuz came under attack, injuring four mariners onboard. The attack targeted a vessel registered in the Pacific island nation of Palau, the state-run Oman news agency said.<\/p>\n

Mortimer said attacks on shipping could have \u201cmajor repercussions across war insurance rates\u201d adding: \u201cCrew are far more likely to be concerned than they might have been to previous risks. The situation remains very fluid, requiring ongoing attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most stock markets in the Gulf region fell on Sunday. Saudi Arabia\u2019s market lost 2.5%, pulled down by financial stocks, industrial companies and utilities, but Saudi Aramco\u2019s shares rose by 2.5% following the forecast of a jump in the price of crude.<\/p>\n

Kuwait\u2019s stock exchange suspended trade until further notice, citing the \u201cexceptional circumstances\u201d the country was facing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The price of oil is expected to soar on Monday despite a pledge by major oil-producing nations to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-452061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}