NEW YORK, March 23, 2026, 14:59 EDT
- Brent crude slid 9.64% to $101.42 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 8.78%, settling at $89.61. President Donald Trump’s decision to hold off on strikes against Iranian power plants fueled the move.
- Shares in BP slid 2.2% and Shell lost 4.2% on the London market, tracking a pullback in crude. Across the Atlantic, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all moved higher.
- The International Energy Agency is leaving the door open to more emergency stock releases, but for chief Fatih Birol, the real solution is getting the Strait of Hormuz back open.
Oil plunged Monday, with Brent dropping 9.64% to $101.42 a barrel and U.S. WTI losing 8.78% to $89.61, after Trump announced a five-day delay on strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure. That move took some heat off concerns about an immediate Middle East supply hit. Global shares rebounded.
The pullback stood out mainly because Brent had just finished Friday at $112.19—levels not seen since July 2022. But the threat in the Strait of Hormuz hasn’t faded. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG flows remain at risk, with shipping through the waterway still choked or fully stalled after Gulf energy sites came under attack, according to Reuters.
Asia shoulders most of the burden here. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan described the closure as “an Asian crisis,” noting that about 80% of oil passing through Hormuz is bound for buyers in the region. Refineries and petrochemical plants across Asia have either scaled back production or invoked force majeure clauses, citing disruptions beyond their control. Reuters
Traders saw Trump’s action as a breather rather than any kind of resolution. Iran pushed back, denying any negotiations with Washington. “It buys time. We are in a very intense conflict,” DWS’s David Bianco told Reuters. “I don’t see this conflict going back in the bottle overnight,” he added. Reuters
Oil stocks took a hit despite a rebound elsewhere. BP slipped 2.2%, Shell tumbled 4.2%. That left energy trailing the pack on the FTSE 100, even as the index clawed back from earlier, deeper declines.
Stocks reversed course, pushing up sharply—Dow up 655 points, S&P 500 climbing 1.19%, Nasdaq 1.26% higher. Standard Chartered’s Steven Englander noted the market wasn’t signaling the end of trouble yet, though a near-term disaster looked less likely.
Chevron CEO Mike Wirth cautioned that supply won’t bounce back as quickly as the current price moves might imply. “It will take time to come out of this,” he said. Wirth also pointed out that ongoing tightness in diesel and jet fuel—particularly in Asia—still isn’t fully reflected in forward contracts. Reuters
Speaking at CERAWeek in Houston, Sultan Al Jaber, who heads ADNOC, called out the oil surge as “slowing economic growth everywhere.” He also cautioned that “stability in energy markets underpins security in every market.” TotalEnergies boss Patrick Pouyanne, for his part, said if the disruption drags past three or four months, the risk to the global economy turns systemic. Reuters
Goldman Sachs struck a cautious tone, raising its 2026 Brent outlook to $85 a barrel, up from $77, and bumping its WTI forecast to $79 from $72. According to the bank, Brent might average $110 in March and April as traders continue to price in a risk premium tied to supply threats. In a worst-case scenario, Goldman warned, prices could spike as high as $135.
The International Energy Agency is talking with governments in Asia and Europe about possible additional stock releases, though Birol stressed those emergency barrels are just a temporary fix. “A stock release will help to comfort the markets, but this is not the solution,” he said. “The single most important solution to this problem is opening the Hormuz Strait.” Reuters
Any sense of relief in markets might be short-lived. Iran insists talks haven’t happened, the strait is still basically closed, and Balakrishnan flagged the risk: more attacks on energy sites could drag the region into “a prolonged period” of lower exports, pricier oil and gas, and rising inflation. Reuters
