After surging past $100 a barrel on Monday morning, oil prices came down to $85 a barrel by the time that US stock markets closed in the afternoon. He described it as a short-term consequence of the US-Israel war on Iran, and claimed oil prices would “drop rapidly when the destruction of the Iran nuclear threat” was over. “A deficit of 20m barrels per day is hitting global [oil market] balances with no sign of relief. While observers may have initially thought his disregard for painful oil prices was a bluff, it’s now clear that it isn’t,” he said. Overall, oil prices have rocketed by two-thirds from just above $60 a barrel at the start of the year.

Source: The Guardian March 09, 2026 17:50 UTC