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Global inflation risks grow as oil prices surge and storage runs out
The Guardian
|March 07, 2026
The Iran conflict has driven the price of oil past $90 a barrel to its highest weekly gains since the Covid-19 pandemic six years ago, stoking fears of a global inflation rise.
Reports that Kuwait had begun cutting production of oil at some fields after running out of space to store it drove the cost of Brent crude to $91.89 a barrel at one point yesterday - its highest price since April 2024 and up from about $72.50 just before war broke out.
The price of the international benchmark has surged by more than 25% since the US-Israel attack on Iran last weekend, its biggest weekly jump since the week to 3 April 2020.
Fears are growing over a broader storage crisis in the Middle East that could force the world's biggest oil producers to halt extraction.
Holding facilities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates could reach their limit within 20 days, according to consultants at Kplr, a data and analytics platform, forcing further shutdowns. This is considered a last resort for oil companies because the costly process of restarting production can take weeks, piling further pressure on the markets.
Concerns have been compounded by Qatar's energy minister, who predicted that if the war continued, all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within weeks and oil would rise to $150 a barrel.
This story is from the March 07, 2026 edition of The Guardian.
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