by Ben Whedon
Brent Crude Oil, a key market metric for energy prices, cleared $90 per barrel on Friday, amid the ongoing war with Iran.
As of press time, the metric stood at $93.70 per barrel and was up 8.29%. The spike is largely due to Iranian strikes on oil refineries in the Persian Gulf, leading many producers to shut down operations.
Shipping giants Maersk and Cosco have also suspended operations in the region, further complicating efforts to keep oil prices stable.
The development is a short-term win for Russia, which has seen one of its critical economic lifelines become more lucrative overnight. The U.S. Treasury this week, waved some restrictions on Russian oil purchases to let India stabilize its energy sector without triggering repercussions from Washington.
“To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. “This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea.
India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of U.S. oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage.”
The average gas price in America is $3.320, up from $2.982 a week ago, according to the American Automobile Association. This represents an 11% increase in gas prices.
Saad al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister, said the ongoing conflict in the Middle East could push the price of an oil barrel to $150.
“If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,” he said, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
“Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that can’t supply.”
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
