Oil and gas prices continued their rise this Tuesday, in the wake of the escalation in the Middle East, which is intensifying day by day, fueled by American-Zionist bombardments on Iran. Global stock markets, for their part, remained in the red, deepening Monday’s plunge.
After briefly crossing the $85 per barrel mark in the morning, due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a high not seen since 2024—Brent crude marked a slight pause midday.
The price of a barrel of North Sea Brent for May delivery rose 7.94%, settling at $83.91, after touching $85.12, its highest level since July 2024. Its American equivalent, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) barrel for April delivery, gained 7.36% to $76.47.
Oil prices continued to soar on Tuesday, as markets assessed that the war against Iran could last longer than initially anticipated, with the Strait of Hormuz impassable and energy infrastructure impacted.
“While the market anticipated a short war on Sunday, players are now beginning to realize that the risk of escalation is very high,” explained Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, analyst at Global Risk Management.
This is compounded by the fact that the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil transits in normal times, has become impassable for shipping companies. This constitutes another reason to fear the worst for black gold supplies in the coming days. A real crisis could take hold, especially if countries due to receive oil transiting through the Strait of Hormuz lack sufficient strategic reserves.
Faced with the strong aggression they are suffering, the Iranians are making no concessions and assert that they will not allow any ship to cross the Strait of Hormuz. They claim they will not let a single drop of oil leave the region. This is all the more so since the American president has warned that the war against Iran could last a month or more.
Around “8 to 10 million barrels per day” could not find alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz, according to Jorge Leon, analyst at Rystad Energy. If the strategic reserves of oil-importing countries can temporarily fill the delivery shortfall, a prolonged closure would be much harder to manage, according to analysts.
As for global stock markets, they continued this Monday to deepen the previous day’s losses, impacted by the military escalation in the Middle East, thus reigniting fears of widespread inflation due to rising energy prices and significantly driving up government bond yields.
At around 11:00 GMT, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was down 3.70%, London’s was off 2.81%, and Milan’s was down 4.33%. In Asia, the Seoul Stock Exchange ended with a 7.24% drop, Tokyo lost 3.06%, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange fell 3.07%. On Wall Street, futures for the three main indices pointed to a sharp opening decline.