Oil Prices Soar to 3-Year High as Israel Launches Air Strikes on Iran

Oil prices spiked to their highest level in three years early on June 13 as news broke that Israel had launched dozens of air strikes against Iran, targeting its nuclear programme and military facilities, and killing its senior commanders.

- Ovais Subhani

Futures on global benchmark Brent crude oil soared by as much as 13 per cent—the biggest intraday move since March 2022—to US$78.50 a barrel. Prices pulled back to US$73.07 at 3.50pm Singapore time, still up 5.3 per cent from their previous close.

Shock waves from the oil market also hit stock markets across Asia, from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Malaysia and Japan.

The Straits Times Index, the Singapore stock benchmark, closed 0.3 per cent lower to 3,911.42 points.

The fall was led by stocks likely to be impacted by higher oil prices. Seatrium, which builds offshore oil and gas platforms, slipped 2.8 per cent. Worries that jet fuel prices may also gain contributed to Singapore Airlines going down 1.3 per cent.

The large-scale Israeli attack could push the Middle East—home to some of the world's top oil-exporting nations—to the brink of a new war and upend global oil supply and demand dynamics, analysts said.

Oil prices were on a downtrend, hitting a low of about US$60 in May after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) on May 3 decided to increase production for a second month in a row.