Oil prices spike when traders expect available supply to fall short of demand. Eight major shocks since 1973 -- the Arab embargo, the Iranian Revolution, the G…
Arab OPEC members embargoed nations seen as backing Israel in the Yom Kippur War and cut production to reinforce it. Crude prices roughly quadrupled from about $3 to nea…
The Iranian Revolution disrupted Iran's oil exports, and the Iran-Iraq War that followed in 1980 cut supply further. Panic buying by importers amplified the shock, tripl…
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait removed both countries' oil exports and raised fears Saudi Arabia's far larger output could also be hit. Prices roughly doubled to above $40 a…
Explosive demand growth from China and other emerging markets met thin global spare capacity, a weak U.S. dollar and financial speculation. WTI hit an intraday record of…
A surge in U.S. shale production met slowing global demand, and OPEC chose not to cut output to defend prices. Brent fell from above $115 in June 2014 to below $30 by Ja…
Global lockdowns eliminated transport and industrial fuel demand almost overnight. Storage filled so fast that WTI futures briefly traded around negative $37 a barrel on…
Sanctions and voluntary buyer avoidance made Russian oil harder to insure, finance and ship, while a European gas crisis added pressure. Brent spiked to around $139 in e…
U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran (Feb 28, 2026) triggered Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carried a fifth of world oil. Brent surged from abou…
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