Oil prices rise sharply after attacks in Middle East disrupt global energy supply
Source: AP
Updated 2:47 AM EST, March 2, 2026
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices rose sharply Monday as U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes against Israel and U.S. military installations around the Gulf sent disruptions through the global energy supply chain.
Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt. Attacks throughout the region, including on two vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, have restricted countries’ ability to export oil to the rest of the world. Prolonged attacks would likely result in higher prices for crude oil and gasoline, according to energy experts.
West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was selling for $72.79 a barrel early Monday, up 8.6% from its trading price of about $67 on Friday, according to data from CME group. A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $79.41 per barrel early Monday, according to FactSet, up 9% from its trading price of $72.87 on Friday, at the time a seven-month high.
Higher global energy prices mean consumers will pay more for gasoline at the pump and have to shell out more for groceries and other goods at a time when many are already feeling the impacts of elevated inflation.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-war-oil-prices-energy-strait-of-hormuz-21e634acba4c35801d28dfdbcc53824a
Just before after 9:30 am EST, (Jed Clampett's
)WTI (Texas) crude was ~$72/bbl.
= new reply since forum marked as read
This would not be a speculative rise. It's a real "supply disruption".
And here in Philly, we only briefly (probably less than a month) had below $3/gal. The last time I topped off just before our nightmare snow/sleet storm, I was paying something like $3.19/gal. I think it was right after Christmas when I saw something like $2.79/gal at some spots.
Also get ready for the avian flu-related egg/chicken price spike! Here in the PA/NJ/DE tristate area, there have been thousands of dead Canada geese reported and something like the culling of over 7 million chickens in just one month. 
This was thanks to an extended period of brutal cold, which forced non-migrating birds to huddle closer together and in larger numbers than normal, and that helped to rapidly spread the disease, not only among themselves, but to domesticated flocks.
It'll be rising. Call it a hunch. 😉 I have this 6th sense. 
