The price of the main US benchmark for oil surged more than 30 percent on Monday over concerns that the Middle East war could create prolonged supply disruptions.
At 0230 GMT West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 30.04 percent at $118.21 per barrel, before easing slightly, while Brent Crude was 27.54 percent higher at $118.22. In the global market, crude oil hitting $100 per barrel was increasingly being bandied about as a possibility after the Iran war started. But it wasn't supposed to happen this quickly.
Oil futures spiked above $100 per barrel when trading kicked off on Sunday evening and continued surging, with Brent crude oil futures and WTI crude gaining about 30% - sending crude to nearly $120 overnight in its biggest one-day jump since 2020.
Traders had already been on edge last week. Then sentiment turned to outright panic after reports that major oil producers Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates had begun trimming output as storage facilities filled up rapidly in the wake of the Strait of Hormuz closure. Iraq, another major producer, started production cuts days earlier.
Prices settled in early-morning Monday trading reports that G7 ministers and the International Energy Agency are set to discuss a joint release of emergency oil reserves.
Brent was trading around $104 a barrel just after 8 a.m. ET on Monday, while WTI was at $102. Prices of both grades have nearly doubled this year.
