Oil jumps above 94 dollars on fresh Mideast strikes
Crude prices surged on Monday as an exchange of strikes in the Middle East threatened supply, a day after OPEC plus signed off on a modest July output hike.
- WTI crude climbed above 94 dollars a barrel on Monday, near 94.5 dollars, a gain of roughly 4.4 percent on the day.
- Brent reached about 97.2 dollars a barrel, snapping a two-session losing streak.
- OPEC plus had approved a July output increase of 188,000 barrels per day, its second straight monthly hike.
- In Serbia, diesel is capped at 222 dinars and premium petrol at 196 dinars a litre, with the price decree running through mid-August.
Crude oil prices surged on Monday, June 8, after fresh strikes across the Middle East raised fears for supply, sending the US benchmark WTI through the 94 dollar mark to around 94.5 dollars a barrel, a daily gain of about 4.4 percent. North Sea Brent moved in step to roughly 97.2 dollars, ending a two-day slide.
The rally was set off by new rockets fired in the region and warnings of further escalation, at a moment when the market was already primed to react to any headline out of the Gulf. For energy importers, Serbia among them, every cent on the barrel works its way down the chain to the pump, turning a brief military flare-up into a line item in the household fuel budget.
Why doesn’t the OPEC plus decision cool the market?
OPEC plus signed off on Sunday, June 7, on a July production increase of 188,000 barrels per day, the second monthly hike in a row. The quota is shared by seven countries: Saudi Arabia and Russia at 62,000 barrels per day each, Iraq at 26,000 and Kuwait at 16,000, with smaller contributions from the rest of the wider alliance.
The move is largely symbolic, however. A blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil passes, is choking off actual exports from the Gulf, so the extra barrels on paper struggle to reach buyers. Helima Croft of RBC Capital Markets noted that at this stage the discussion is essentially about hypothetical future scenarios, while most of those barrels are stuck.
Put plainly, the market is not trading what has been approved on paper, but what can physically clear the strait. As long as the shipping lane stays under pressure, the higher quota remains a promise without delivery, and the risk premium keeps pushing quotes higher despite the larger nominal supply.
What the spike means for fuel prices in Serbia
For now Serbian drivers will not feel the global jump directly, because the government keeps a decree capping fuel prices. Diesel sells for no more than 222 dinars a litre and premium petrol for 196 dinars, under prices that hold through June 12, with the regulatory framework extended to mid-August.
The cap shifts the burden of any increase from the pump onto dealer margins and, indirectly, onto the budget, but it does not cancel market pressure so much as defer it. Should quotes hold above 90 dollars for a sustained stretch, the room to keep prices contained narrows, especially for diesel, which leans most heavily on imports. Would you rather see the price cap extended, or let prices creep gradually toward market levels?
