Brace for $200 Oil If War Lasts Till June, Macquarie Warns


(Bloomberg) — Oil may hit a record $200 a barrel if the Iran war drags on till June, with the Strait of Hormuz staying shut, Macquarie Group Ltd. said.

A conflict that stretches through the second quarter would result in historically high real prices, analysts including Vikas Dwivedi said in a note, outlining a scenario with odds of 40%. An alternative outlook, with probability of 60%, suggested the war may finish at the end of this month, they said.

Brent crude is on pace for a record monthly gain in March, as the war between the US, Israel and Iran has rocked the oil-rich Middle East. The conflict has seen Tehran oversee a near-complete closure of the Strait of Hormuz, severely restricting flows of energy vital to the global economy.

“If the strait were to stay closed for an extended period, prices would need to move high enough to destroy an historically large amount of global oil demand,” the analysts said in the March 27 report. “The timing of the re-opening of the straits, and physical damage to energy infrastructure, is the main determinant of the longer-term impact on commodities.”

Brent was last near $108 a barrel on Friday, after touching a crisis-high of $119.50 earlier this month. The benchmark set a nominal peak of $147.50 a barrel in 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump pushed back a deadline for striking Iran’s energy sites by 10 days, with the second pause to that threat stretching the timeline on potential attacks to April 6. Iran had allowed 10 oil tankers to sail through the strait as a goodwill gesture, he said.

The closure of the strait “has sent both crude and refined-product prices soaring due to the magnitude of the disruption,” the analysts said. In pre-conflict times, the waterway saw daily transits of about 15 million barrels of crude, as well as 5 million barrels of refined-products, they said.

(Updates to add Trump’s decision in penultimate paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.



Source link

  • Related Posts

    The Wealth of Nations: A Classic of English Literature

    The Wealth of Nations is a true classic of English literature. It is just not one that has ever been widely loved or popularly read. When The Wealth of Nations…

    Dollar’s Best Run Since July Roils Wall Street’s FX Roadmap

    The Bloomberg dollar gauge sank roughly 8% in 2025, the most since 2017. Three Fed rate cuts last year eroded demand, but so did President Donald Trump’s trade war, which…

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    You Missed

    Scientists train to dive beneath polar ice as climate change warms the Arctic and Antarctica

    Scientists train to dive beneath polar ice as climate change warms the Arctic and Antarctica

    Court temporarily blocks US government from labeling Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk’

    Court temporarily blocks US government from labeling Anthropic as a ‘supply chain risk’

    The Wealth of Nations: A Classic of English Literature

    The Wealth of Nations: A Classic of English Literature

    One Of The Best Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Cases Just Got A 30% Discount

    One Of The Best Nintendo Switch 2 Carrying Cases Just Got A 30% Discount

    Italy’s Competition Authority Investigates Sephora, Benefit Cosmetics

    Italy’s Competition Authority Investigates Sephora, Benefit Cosmetics

    Dollar’s Best Run Since July Roils Wall Street’s FX Roadmap