In the wake of the escalation in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, oil prices rose dramatically and reached $100 a barrel early Tuesday, when Brent crude reached $99.50 before falling back to $97.
And early on Wednesday, oil prices returned to jumping again, as the price of Brent crude, according to the site, reached $ 99.53 a barrel.
The Oil Price website says that the impending Iran nuclear deal could send oil prices as low as $90 or even below $90.
Although Ukraine accounts for a large part of the rally, there are many other factors that could keep prices high even if a worse scenario does not materialize with subsequent Western sanctions on Russian energy exports.
These factors include strong growth in global oil demand, which is expected to exceed pre-COVID levels this year.
On the flip side, the impending Iran nuclear deal could send oil prices as low as $90 or even below $90, as market tightness will ease later this year when U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil exports are lifted.
Iran could bring 1.3 million barrels per day into the global oil supply, although that will take some time, and in any case, if a deal is reached, more supply should ease the oil market.
Moreover, major investment banks have started predicting that $100 a barrel of oil is coming even before the recent escalation in Ukraine.
If the crisis escalates into a conflict that would lead to Western sanctions on Russian oil, which accounts for 12 percent of global supply, prices could even reach $150 a barrel, JPMorgan said earlier this month.
