--- title: "Oil Tops $100 for the First Time Since May as the Gulf Crisis Deepens" description: "Brent crude has risen above $100 a barrel for the first time since May, its fifth straight day of gains, as the war between the United States and Iran chokes off the world's most important oil shipping routes. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, and the Houthis say they have attacked two Saudi tankers." category: "Business" category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/business author: "Megan Chen" published: 2026-07-23T19:33:42.000Z updated: 2026-07-23T19:33:42.000Z canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/oil-tops-100-for-the-first-time-since-may-as-the-gulf-crisis-deepens tags: ["oil", "energy", "iran", "strait-of-hormuz", "markets"] --- # Oil Tops $100 for the First Time Since May as the Gulf Crisis Deepens Brent crude has risen above $100 a barrel for the first time since May, its fifth straight day of gains, as the war between the United States and Iran chokes off the world's most important oil shipping routes. The Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, and the Houthis say they have attacked two Saudi tankers. The price of oil has climbed back above $100 a barrel, [Al Jazeera reports](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/oil-surges-past-100-in-a-first-since-may-as-middle-east-conflicts-rage), as the widening conflict between the United States and Iran disrupts the shipping lanes that carry much of the world's crude. ## The number The move is significant both for its size and for what it took to get here. According to Al Jazeera, Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose above $100 a barrel on Wednesday, the first time it has reached that level since May and the highest in nearly two months. It was the fifth consecutive day of gains. We have been tracking this climb for over a week, from US petrol reaching $4 a gallon with Brent near $88; the move through $100 marks a clear escalation from that. ## Why it is rising The cause is not a shortage of oil in the ground but a threat to moving it. Al Jazeera reports two immediate triggers. First, Yemen's Houthis said they had attacked two Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea. Second, and more consequentially, the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which a large share of the world's seaborne oil passes, is now "effectively closed," with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declaring it "completely closed." With disruption at both Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the other end of the Arabian Peninsula, two of the most important chokepoints for global energy are compromised at once. That is the mechanism behind the price. Oil is priced globally, so when the market fears that a major share of supply cannot reach buyers, the price rises everywhere, regardless of where any particular barrel is produced or consumed. Al Jazeera reports that rising shipping-insurance costs are compounding the effect, with rates through Hormuz running at four times their five-year average. ## How far it could go The current price may not be the ceiling, and the forecasts are sobering. Al Jazeera reports that Goldman Sachs projects Brent could exceed $120 a barrel in the fourth quarter and average $100 through next year if the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted into 2027. One analyst summed up the mood, telling Al Jazeera that "investors are in a wary mood… as fresh jitters of worry about the ongoing energy crunch hit sentiment." We are reporting a market forecast as a forecast, not a certainty; whether oil goes higher depends entirely on the course of a war. But the direction of risk, on these figures, is upward. ## Why it matters everywhere A war in the Gulf becomes a bill in every country, and that is the reason this is a global story rather than a regional one. Oil feeds into the cost of transport, manufacturing, food and heating, so a sustained rise in crude works its way into prices that ordinary households pay, far from the conflict itself. It also complicates the task of central banks, which had been moving toward lower interest rates as inflation eased; a fresh energy shock pushes in the opposite direction. The $100 mark is a threshold with real economic weight, and crossing it signals that the disruption in the Gulf is no longer only a security story but an economic one that will be felt worldwide. What happens next at Hormuz will determine whether this is a spike that fades or the start of something more sustained. ## Sources - [Oil surges past $100 in a first since May as Middle East conflicts rage](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/oil-surges-past-100-in-a-first-since-may-as-middle-east-conflicts-rage)