March 3 (UPI) -- The price of Brent crude oil rose to $80 a barrel and the price of natural gas jumped 30% to $1.97 per therm on Tuesday after Iran effectively shut the key Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, with an official threatening its forces would "set fire to anyone who tries to pass."
Prices continued their upward trajectory from Monday when markets reopened following the military strikes over the weekend on Iran by the United States and Israel and Tehran's strikes on its oil and gas producing neighbors across the Gulf.
Concerns over supply disruptions are growing as the conflict widens across the region with Iranian strikes going beyond military bases used to launch attacks on Iran to target oil and gas production facilities, as well as Amazon data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
On Monday, Qatar Energy, one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, shut down production following "military attacks" on its Ras Laffan plant and Saudi Arabia's state-run Aramco shuttered its giant Ras Tanura refinery near the port city of Dammam after it was set ablaze in a drone strike.
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