‘Substantial’ oil and gas price rises will not be temporary, analyst says

Friday, 20 March 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Oil and gas prices are soaring as the Iran war escalates.

Brent crude futures topped $115 a barrel, their highest in more than a week. Gas prices have surged by 30%.

James Meadway, co-director of Verdant, a think tank in the UK, told Al Jazeera that the spike won’t be temporary.

“A few weeks ago, you might have thought it will be possible for the Bank of England rate setters, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank to look through this rise in prices when they’re setting interest rates and say, ‘OK, it is going to be temporary. The war will be over quickly, and things will return to normal,’” he said.

“What’s happened now is in addition to the Strait of Hormuz being blocked, we now have a severe disruption to the basic production of oil and gas and gas especially, so at this point, it looks like this will be a substantial increase on those prices,” he added.