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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe ill turn in fortunes can be attributed to the United States’ ongoing war against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Global oil markets were thrust into chaos and uncertainty when the United States launched attacks on Iran at the end of February 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sudden and unexpected onset of war in the Middle East caused global oil prices to rocket to $120 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The war shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical channel through which about 20% of the world\u2019s oil is transported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The oil price shock hit energy prices hard, with fuel prices rising through to June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to open the Strait and negotiate a long-term peace agreement, markets turned, resulting in some relief in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the ceasefire collapsed soon after, with the United States having restarted its attacks and the Strait once again shutting down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Markets had, until now, been hopeful that the US and Iran would work towards peace, with many analysts optimistically pencilling in prices being contained around $80 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$100 a barrel was seen as “unlikely”. However, prices hit that level after Houthi attacks on tankers in the Red Sea opened a new front in the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump threatened to extend US strikes on Iran as negotiations between the two nations faltered and an end to the conflict remained elusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global oil prices have once again hit $100 a barrel, sinking petrol price recoveries by R2 per litre this month, and pushing diesel recoveries deeper into the red.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":855633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080564652061168071","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[9068,19909,2171],"class_list":["post-867330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-central-energy-fund","tag-diesel-price","tag-petrol-price"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867346,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867330\/revisions\/867346"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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