Updated on: March 6, 2026 / 11:01 AM EST / CBS News
The price of oil surged Friday amid growing concerns the Iran war will disrupt global crude supplies. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 6.8% to $86.57 per barrel, while Brent crude jumped 4.7% to $89.44, with both trading near their highest levels since April 2024.
Crude prices climbed as the conflict halted shipments of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that normally carries about 20% of global oil shipments. JPMorgan analysts said the market is shifting “from pricing pure geopolitical risk to grappling with tangible operational disruption, as refinery shutdowns and export constraints begin to impair crude processing and regional supply flows.”
Qatar’s energy minister suggested Gulf energy exporters could shut down production within days, a move the Financial Times reported could push Brent to $150 a barrel. Oxford Economics noted WTI is up close to 30% since the start of the war and more than 55% from its January low.
The Joint Maritime Information Center said vessel traffic through the Strait, typically about 138 ships every 24 hours, has fallen to “single-digit levels” in recent days. Ryan McKay, senior commodity strategist at TD Securities, warned Brent crude could top $100 a barrel by next week if tankers remain unable to transit the strait.
In the U.S., higher oil prices translated into a sharp rise in pump prices. The national average gas price climbed about 32 cents over the past seven days to roughly $3.31 a gallon — the highest since August 2024, according to GasBuddy. Diesel jumped 51 cents in a week to $4.26 a gallon, the highest since November 2023. GasBuddy petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan said on social media that with the “de facto shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, unfortunately, price increases look to continue into this weekend at this pace.”
Edited by Alain Sherter. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
