Oil prices soar above $ 120 to four-year high

Friday, 1 May 2026 09:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The global benchmark oil price, Brent crude, rose above $ 120 (£89) a barrel on Wednesday, briefly hitting $ 122, its highest price since 2022.

According to the BBC understands that energy executives including Chevron chief executive Mike Wirth met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss how to limit the fallout from the conflict on American consumers.

Oil traders appear to have taken the meeting as a sign the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz will continue for a long time.

The executives discussed topics including domestic energy production, progress in Venezuela, oil futures, natural gas, and shipping, according to a White House official.

They described the meeting as being part of the President’s regular meetings with energy executives to discuss their industry.

The meeting follows separate reports from the Wall Street Journal that US President Donald Trump has instructed aides to prepare to extend the ongoing blockade of Iran’s ports, in an effort to squeeze the country’s economy.

Iran has said it will continue to disrupt traffic travelling through the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US blockade.

The price of Brent crude dropped to $ 90 a barrel on 17 April, after a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was announced. However, the oil benchmark has been rising steadily over the last 12 days, as the US continued its blockade.

According to the Statistical Centre of Iran, the annual inflation rate has risen to 53.7%. The country’s currency, the rial, has fallen to a record low.

Around two million Iranians have lost their jobs, directly or indirectly, as a result of the war, the Iranian government had said last week.

The World Bank on Tuesday forecast energy prices would surge by 24% in 2026 to their highest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, if the most acute disruptions caused by the Iran war end in May.