Oil prices jump 4% in wake of Hamas attack on Israel
Lights illuminate the processing plant at the Persian Gulf Star Co. (PGSPC) gas condensate refinery in Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Wednesday, Jan. 9. 2019.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Oil prices jumped 4% as the Israel-Hamas conflict extended into its third day following a surprise attack on Israel by Palestinian militants Hamas.
Global benchmark Brent traded 4.53% higher at $88.41 a barrel Monday, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 4.69% to $88.67 per barrel.
At dawn on Saturday during a major Jewish holiday, Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a multi-pronged infiltration into Israel — by land, sea and air using paragliders. The attack came hours after thousands of rockets were sent from Gaza into Israel.
At the time of publication, at least 700 Israelis have reportedly been killed, according to NBC News. The Palestinian Health Ministry, meanwhile, has recorded 313 deaths so far.
Oil prices jump following Hamas attack on Israel
While there is a surge in crude prices, analysts believe it will be a knee-jerk reaction, and likely temporary.
“For this conflict to have a lasting and meaningful impact on oil markets, there must be a sustained reduction in oil supply or transport,” said Vivek Dhar, Commonwealth Bank’s director of mining and energy commodities research.
“Otherwise, and as history has shown, the positive oil price reaction tends to be temporary and easily trumped by other market forces,” he wrote in a daily note. The conflict does not directly put any major source of oil supplies in danger, he added.
Neither side is a major oil player. Israel boasts two oil refineries with a combined capacity of almost 300,000 barrels per day. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the country boasts “virtually no crude oil and condensate production.” By a similar strand, the Palestinian territories produce no oil, data from EIA shows.
However, the conflict sits at the doorstep of a key oil producing and export region for global consumers.
A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City toward Israel, on October 8, 2023.
Mohammed Abed | AFP | Getty Images
And oil-rich Iran looms large as the market’s immediate concern.
“If western countries officially link Iranian intelligence to the Hamas attack, then Iran’s oil supply and exports face imminent downside risks,” Dhar said.
Oil exports coming out of Iran have been limited since former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018 exited a nuclear accord and re-imposed sanctions aimed at curtailing revenue to Tehran.
“Under encouragement from the U.S. and secret nuclear talks, Iran saw its oil exports and production grow by some 600-k b/d to 3.2-m of output between end 2022 and mid-2023,” Citi said in a note.
There are concerns the conflict could spill into the region.
“There’s also a risk of the conflict escalating regionally. If Iran is sucked into it, there could also be supply issues, though we’re not at that stage yet,” Eurasia Group’s director of energy, climate and resources Henning Gloystein told CNBC in an email.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched attacks on three sites in the Shebaa Farms — a strip of land that sits at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
There could be “a pretty dramatic effect on the oil market” should the U.S. enforce sanctions on Iranian exports, said Josh Young, CIO of energy investment firm Bison Interests. “I think it’s appropriate to see oil, let’s say, [up] about $5 for WTI,” he forecasts.
With 40% of world exports going through the Strait of Hormuz, Rapidan Energy Group’s President Bob McNally projects a conflict between Israel and Iran could easily lead to a $5 to $10 bump in oil prices. The strait is considered to be the world’s most important oil transit chokepoint, and sits between Oman and Iran.
It’s not just Iran that investors have to keep an eye on, however.
McNally also told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” that crude prices could go “much higher” should there be involvement of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
“The way this becomes an authentic problem for the oil market, and contributes to a much bigger spike is if the market believed the fighting would spread to Hezbollah in Lebanon,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday noted the “limited firing” between Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel but said that “as of now, that’s quiet, but it’s something we’re watching very carefully.”
![Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/07/54629423281_6315c46dff_k.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!
In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.
Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.
Stay tuned for more!
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The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.
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Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger, the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries.
Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to the Supercharger stations, and CEO Elon Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid.
While Tesla did add solar and batteries to a few stations, the vast majority of them don’t have their own power system or have only minimal solar canopies.
Back in 2016, I asked Musk about this, and he said that it would now happen as Tesla had the “pieces now in place” with Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity:
All of these pieces have been in place for years, and Tesla has now discontinued the Powerpack in favor of the Megapack. The Supercharger network is also transitioning to V4 stations.
Yet, solar and battery deployment haven’t accelerated much in the decade since Musk made that comment, but it is finally happening.
Last year, Tesla announced a new project called ‘Oasis’, which consists of a new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.
Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls:
The project consists of 168 chargers, with half of them currently operational, making it one of the largest Supercharger stations in the world. However, that’s not even the most notable aspect of it.
The station is equipped with 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies, spanning 30 acres of land, and 10 Tesla Megapacks with a total energy storage capacity of 39 MWh.
It can be operated off-grid, which is the case right now, according to Tesla.
With off-grid operations, Tesla was about to bring 84 stalls online just in time for the Fourth of July travel weekend. The rest of the stalls and a lounge are going to open later this year.
Electrek’s Take
This is awesome. A bit late, but awesome. This is what charging stations should be like: fully powered by renewable energy.
Unfortunately, it will be much harder to open those stations in the future due to legislation that Trump and the Republican Party have just passed, which removes incentives for solar and energy storage, adds taxes on them, and removes incentives to build batteries – all things that have helped Tesla considerably over the last few years.
The US is likely going to have a few tough years for EV adoption and renewable energy deployment.
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