{"id":28109,"date":"2026-03-09T12:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=28109"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:08:15","slug":"us-dollar-surges-as-middle-east-war-sends-oil-to-cusp-of-120","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/us-dollar-surges-as-middle-east-war-sends-oil-to-cusp-of-120\/","title":{"rendered":"US Dollar surges as Middle East war sends oil to cusp of $120"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oil prices surged over $119 a barrel, hitting \u200clevels not seen since mid-2022, on Monday as some major producers cut supplies and fears of prolonged shipping disruptions gripped the market due to the expanding United States (US), Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Brent crude futures were up $13.02, or 14%, at $105.71 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were \u200bup $12.16, or 13%, at $103.06.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a whiplash session, Brent had earlier hit a high of $119.50 a barrel, indicating the biggest-ever \u200babsolute price jump in a single day, and WTI reached $119.48 a barrel. Before the surge on Monday, \u2060Brent had already climbed 28% and WTI 36% over last week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the \u200bworld’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, is virtually shut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Also boosting prices is the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his \u200bfather Ali Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader, signalling that hardliners remain firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the US and Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The war could leave consumers and businesses worldwide facing weeks or months of higher fuel prices even if the conflict, which started on \u200bFebruary 28, ends quickly, as suppliers grapple with damaged facilities, disrupted logistics and elevated risks to shipping.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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US gasoline contracts surged to \u200btheir highest since 2022 at around $3.22 a gallon, at a time when US President Donald Trump has told US consumers the impact on \u200ctheir cost \u2060of living would be limited ahead of mid-term elections in November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16416,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-28109","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Oil prices surged over $119 a barrel","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28110,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28109\/revisions\/28110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}