{"id":11208,"date":"2026-07-20T05:07:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11208"},"modified":"2026-07-20T05:07:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:07:42","slug":"oil-tops-90-as-middle-east-fighting-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11208","title":{"rendered":"Oil tops $90 as Middle East fighting escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/graphics.axios.com\/hermesv2\/2026-07-19-1913-brent-crude-oil\/fallbacks\/2026-07-19-1913-brent-crude-oil-fallback.png\" \/><\/p>\n<div>Data: <a href=\"https:\/\/urldefense.com\/v3\/__https%3A\/\/financialmodelingprep.com__;!!Al82Z4c!zXNHkLPPJSU1owXJ1LGGoisGlsE4-vSeBvGITXQF2rGCdrW9OdBSF-g-BPXyNd3Tly4gUzoa$\" target=\"_blank\">Financial Modeling Prep<\/a>; Chart: Ben Geman\/Axios<\/div>\n<p>Oil prices jumped above $90 per barrel Sunday in the first major trading since the deaths of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/19\/us-military-finds-service-member-remains-jordan\" target=\"_blank\">three U.S. service members<\/a> and escalating Middle East hostilities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Higher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/energy-climate\/oil-companies\" target=\"_blank\">oil<\/a> prices could quickly translate into more expensive gasoline for consumers and diesel for freight carriers while increasing inflation risks worldwide.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/04\/04\/oil-prices-brent-crude\" target=\"_blank\">Brent crude&#8217;s<\/a> move above $90 a barrel \u2014 its first since mid-June \u2014 builds on last week&#8217;s gains after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deteriorated further, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Kpler\/status\/2078085624439898314\" target=\"_blank\">reducing<\/a> tanker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lloydslistintelligence.com\/intelligence\/miu\/strait-of-hormuz-transits\" target=\"_blank\">traffic<\/a> through the Strait of Hormuz following a brief rebound.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The nationwide average U.S. gasoline price was just below the politically important $4-per-gallon mark Sunday, per <a href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">AAA<\/a>, and is likely to rise above that level Monday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>The weekend brought further signs that the U.S.-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/world\/iran\" target=\"_blank\">Iran<\/a> agreement and ceasefire have given way to renewed and expanding strikes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That includes reported Iranian <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kuna_ar\/status\/2078420141633597541\" target=\"_blank\">attacks<\/a> on oil and electricity <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/world\/iran\/water-energy-sites-hit-us-iran-strikes-escalate-rcna588143\" target=\"_blank\">infrastructure<\/a> in Kuwait. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Threat level:<\/strong> Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Saturday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/18\/iran-khamenei-trump-war\" target=\"_blank\">accused President Trump<\/a> of violating the U.S.-Iran agreement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He pledged a strong response by Iran and its proxies if the fighting continues to escalate.<\/li>\n<li>Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsnationnow.com\/us-news\/military\/2-us-service-members-killed-in-action-in-jordan\/\" target=\"_blank\">told NewsNation<\/a> that he &#8220;couldn&#8217;t care less&#8221; about the Iranian leader&#8217;s comments about the agreement. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What we&#8217;re watching:<\/strong> Oil markets have proven surprisingly adaptable to the crisis, due to factors like reduced Chinese imports, governments&#8217; coordinated releases from stockpiles including the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and ample commercial stockpiles.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-07-18\/oil-s-battered-shock-absorbers-risk-price-spike-as-war-returns\" target=\"_blank\">analysts warn<\/a> that these shock absorbers that prevented even larger price spikes earlier in the crisis are <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/amoshochstein\/status\/2077812227890131406\" target=\"_blank\">eroding<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>And the market for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/10\/diesel-oil-inflation-iran\" target=\"_blank\">refined products<\/a> is facing particular woes, including the effectiveness of Ukraine&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/17\/russia-diesel-oil-drones\" target=\"_blank\">drone attacks<\/a> on Russian refineries, which prompted Russia to ban diesel exports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Ben Geman\/Axios Oil prices jumped above $90 per barrel Sunday in the first major trading since the deaths of three U.S. service members and escalating Middle East hostilities. Why it matters: Higher oil prices could quickly translate into more expensive gasoline for consumers and diesel for freight carriers while increasing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/graphics.axios.com\/hermesv2\/2026-07-19-1913-brent-crude-oil\/fallbacks\/2026-07-19-1913-brent-crude-oil-fallback.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}