RIYADH: Oil prices may extend gains when markets reopen on Monday as the US-Israel-Iran conflict enters a third week, with fresh attacks on energy infrastructure and continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz threatening the largest global oil supply shock in years.
Analysts warn crude could remain above $100 per barrel following the latest escalation, raising fears of a prolonged energy shock and a sharp hit to consumers’ real incomes.
The escalation follows US strikes on military targets near Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude export hub, and subsequent Iranian drone attacks on a major oil terminal in the UAE, intensifying concerns over supply security across the Gulf.
Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate have already surged more than 40 percent this month to their highest levels since 2022 after Iranian authorities halted commercial shipping through Hormuz, a route that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil supply, Reuters reported.
Against that backdrop, JPMorgan said a global oil supply shortfall of about 7 million barrels a day caused by the conflict can only be offset by an equivalent decline in consumption.
