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Oil traders were relaxed last week when the price of crude climbed towards $80 per barrel. These levels, after all, were the norm for much of 2022 and 2023. But any calmness dissipated overnight on Sunday, when oil prices jumped to more than $110 a barrel. This compared with about $60 at the beginning of the year. The speed of the rise was startling but rational. Iranian strikes have halted work at the biggest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia and at the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar. Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE have all cut their output of crude with the Strait of Hormuz still closed. But investors are clearly all ears for signals from the US. Prices eased again yesterday after Trump suggested the Iran war was “very complete”.
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