CRITICALECONOMIC
Oil Spikes to $119.50 Brent, $119.48 WTI — New War High Before Pulling Back to $113
·Global oil markets
Brent crude spikes to $119.50 and WTI to $119.48 as markets open — new war highs — driven by Bahrain refinery strike, Hormuz closure, and ongoing Gulf attacks. Prices pull back to ~$113/$110 but remain far above pre-war levels. G7 finance ministers meeting to discuss joint IEA emergency reserve release.
Oil prices surged to new war highs on Day 10 morning as markets processed the Bahrain Bapco refinery strike, the continued Hormuz closure, and Iran's ongoing attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure. Brent crude spiked to $119.50 per barrel and WTI hit $119.48 — the highest prices since the 2008 oil crisis. Both benchmarks pulled back to approximately $113 (Brent) and $110 (WTI) as the initial panic subsided. The price spike reflects the compounding effect of multiple simultaneous supply disruptions: Hormuz near-closure removing 20% of global crude flow; Iraqi production down 70% (1.3M bpd vs 4.3M pre-war); Iranian exports near-zero; and now the Bapco refinery force majeure adding Gulf refined product disruption on top of crude supply loss. G7 finance ministers scheduled a meeting to discuss a coordinated joint release of emergency oil reserves via the International Energy Agency (IEA), with three G7 members including the US expressing support for the measure. The last coordinated IEA release was during the 2011 Libyan civil war. The scale of current disruption far exceeds that episode.
Actor responses
G7 discussing joint IEA release. US supports coordinated reserve release to dampen $119 spike. Oil prices will fall when Iran's nuclear threat is eliminated. Short-term pain, long-term gain.
Sources