Crude Oil Prices Increase Nearly 3% Following Middle East Troubles
The US’ involvement in Middle East conflict has driven up oil prices today by 2.83%.
The price of crude oil is at $75.95 per barrel at press time, and at least some of the blame has to be levied at the strikes the US military and Iraqi soldiers are carrying out against one another. Over the past week, the two armies have executed one retaliatory strike after another, escalating the conflict and tensions in the area.
The Iraqi soldiers are backed by Iran and receiving pressure from Tehran to continue attacking US military targets. The conflict between the two sides started when three American soldiers were killed in Jordan, and from there the US started to strike back.
A ceasefire was proposed for the Gaza area where the majority of the fighting is concentrated. This is the same area where Palestinian soldiers bombed a hospital just recently and made international headlines when blame was wrongly placed on Israeli forces for the attack. The ceasefire was rejected, and oil prices have continued to rise following that decision.
A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would remain fighting until victory had been achieved. The ceasefire was supposed to start a four and a half-month period of no hostility between Israelis and Palestinians and include Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Even though Israel has outright rejected the proposal, negotiators are confident that there is still room for discussion and potential concessions.
Oil Prices Check-In
Brent crude oil is trading at $79.59 as of $2:08 ppm EST. Murban crude is trading at $79.52, and natural gas is trading at $1.972. Expect prices to continue to rise while conflict rages in the Middle East.
The region is very critical to natural gas and crude oil supplies. If there is active conflict, those supplies are in jeopardy and supply lines could be disrupted.
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