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Oil price passes $100 for the first time since 2022

ended 09. March 2026

The benchmark oil price has passed $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022, as the war in the Middle East continues.

The rise is likely to further increase petrol prices.

London’s FTSE 100 share index has dropped 1.4% in the first couple of minutes of trade, as investors react to the surge in oil prices.

Earlier, stock markets in Asia fell sharply, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closing down by more than 5%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index sank by more than 8% at one point, triggering a 20-minute halt to trading. The so-called circuit breaker is a mechanism designed to curb panic selling. The Kospi eventually closed down 6%.

  • How high could the oil price go? And petrol prices?
  • How bad is this for the UK and world economy?
  • What could happen next? Any predictions on how this will affect the UK and the world?

Responses asap.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The spike in oil price is disasterous for global economies not just the UK’s. Even oil producers don’t want to see oil north of $100 as they know the demand destruction impact it has. Unless this conflict comes to a quick conclusion, inflation will spike and interest rate increases will start getting priced in. Donald Trump is damaging the UK economy and going to cost UK households money.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Net Zero needs to be reduced to zero sooner rather than later. This radical path has just further reduced our options in a time of crisis like now. Normal hardworking families just doing every day tasks will be hit. The knock on inflation will be damaging. The chancellor can help families by temporarily reducing taxes but guessing she won’t! Hold on to your hats, again, for another bumpy ride.
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
Global stagflation is the most likely outcome of oil hitting $100 as the ripple effects of the severe market anxiety over Middle East stability, specifically the Strait of Hormuz fans out across the globe. Analysts warn that a prolonged blockade could push Brent crude toward $120–$150. In the UK, this translates to petrol prices potentially surpassing 165p per litre. Economically, this is a "double hit." Higher energy costs drive up inflation, likely forcing the Bank of England to not only pause planned interest rate cuts but could well see rate increases to prevent an inflationary spiral. The FTSE 100 and Asian market drops reflect fears of "demand destruction"—where the cost of living becomes so high that consumer spending collapses.
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Anita Wright
Chartered Financial Planner at Ribble Wealth Management
If disruption around the Strait of Hormuz persists, the issue is not just higher crude prices but a broader supply shock affecting shipping, insurance, food imports and general price levels. Oil could move materially higher if the channel becomes commercially unusable. You do not need every barrel to disappear for prices to surge, if insurers will not cover ships, crews refuse to sail, or naval escorts prove impractical, the market quickly prices scarcity. In that context, $100 is not a ceiling but simply the point at which markets begin recognising the disruption. For UK motorists this is clearly negative. Higher crude feeds into higher wholesale fuel costs and eventually higher petrol and diesel prices. The bigger concern, however, is that energy sits at the heart of the economy. If oil and gas remain elevated, the impact spreads into transport, food production, manufacturing and household bills, worsening the inflation outlook.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Managing Director & IFA at Mather and Murray Financial
Get ready for everything to get much more expensive. The conflict with Iran is not going to be the short sharp shock like the 12 day war last year, this could be 12 months and that means pain for the West. With oil tankers paralysed in the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices are spiking at around $115 dollars a barrel. This could lead to petrol prices over £2 per litre and energy bills rocketing, unless the government steps in. However, that would cause gilt rates to rise meaning higher mortgage and borrowing costs. There’s no other way of avoiding a much more expensive world. The only off ramp is that Trump feels the pain of high oil and collapsing financial markets and negotiated with the new Supreme Leader, but that’s unlikely as he wanted a say in who would be sat at the table.
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Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
Let’s be clear, this is bad for the UK economy. Higher oil means higher fuel, higher transport costs, higher food prices, and more pressure on inflation just when the government were claiming everything was “coming under control”.
Funny how the victory speeches go quiet the moment the data turns the other way.

If this conflict drags on, $110–$120 isn’t unrealistic, and that means petrol pushing up again, inflation sticking around, and interest rate cuts getting delayed.

What happens next? Uncertainty, volatility, and lenders getting nervous, which usually means mortgage rates stop falling

The Bank of England won’t want panic, the government won’t want headlines, but the markets don’t care about politics, they react to risk.

And right now risk is rising fast.
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David Belle
Founder and Trader at Fink Money
The G7 have announced they are willing to drop more supply onto the market which has temporarily paused the rally.

Overnight, WTI crude traded to roughly $119 while brent traded to approximately the same.

In terms of how high, we could see a sharp upside move to about $140 if we see continued problems with the Strait of Hormuz where supply ends up being constained.

For the UK, this is very bad. The OBR's growth projection only works with energy prices at a lower average and that has been blown up in a few days since the Spring Statement.

Ed Miliband's policy has an extra £1bn baked into consumer energy bills each year to fund his insane net zero experiement, which no other country is following while also banning north sea drilling.

The problem for the UK is if we get a double whammy of higher inflation again with the already destroyed labour market and growth prospects. We are largely an isolated figure in how bad policy is for British citizens across the board.