Oil rose sharply between Sunday and Monday, March 8-9, the biggest one-day jump since April 2020, when the shock occurred due to coronavirus epidemic, and the highest price level since June 2022, after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
Kuwait began cutting production at its oil fields and refineries, while the United Arab Emirates said it was managing offshore production to meet storage needs, while onshore operations continued as normal. In Iraq, production at three major oil fields fell by as much as 70 percent to 1,3 million barrels a day from 4,3 million barrels a day before the conflict, according to industry sources.
No signs of slowing down.
The price of oil has soared to as high as $107 a barrel and that trend shows no signs of slowing just a week after the US and Israel attacked Iran, sparking conflicts throughout the region, the Associated Press news agency writes.
In that conflict, almost every country in the Middle East has suffered damage from missile or drone attacks, and ships carrying around 20 million barrels of oil per day are stuck in the Persian Gulf, unable to safely pass through. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow entrance to the bay.
Disruptions and damage to key oil and gas facilities in the region have led to interruptions in oil and gas supplies. The consequence is an increase in the cost of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, which will be felt by ordinary people at the pumps, the agency says.
