crude oil prices

Thursday was a rocky one for the oil market. Brent crude was up more than 3% at one point, and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate briefly crested the $100-a-barrel mark.

That’s a big gap between the financial world’s price of oil versus what people are actually paying to get a physical delivery of a barrel of oil.

Oil futures markets can reflect investor expectations about fuel prices and energy markets.

The state isn’t seeing a boom from the energy supply crunch. That limits the uptick in tax revenue that comes from higher prices, and makes employment unlikely to see a big boost.

Catherine Wolfram, professor of energy economics at MIT Sloan School of Management, talks about how demand destruction actually helps balance the oil market.

Two months into the disruption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a gap is opening between what financial markets expect oil to cost and what buyers are actually paying to get a physical barrel delivered today.

As some countries work to reduce their reliance on American currency, the petrodollar system may be next.

Analysts say the global oil market faces months of disruption from damaged infrastructure, a slow reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and drawn-down reserves.

Oil prices go up faster than they come down, especially since the war has damaged oil infrastructure in the Middle East.

Some sectors are more exposed than others as the war drives up energy costs and squeezes consumer spending.