Oil Crises: A Half-Century of Shocks
Nine times since 1973, oil has rewritten the world economy — embargoes, revolutions, price wars, a pandemic that sent prices negative, a war that reset the map of energy trade, and a still-unfolding 2026 war that the IEA has called the largest supply disruption in oil-market history. The full ledger below, with what each shock permanently changed.
2026: The Iran War Spike
WTI & Brent, 2026 YTDShaded region marks the period since 2 March 2026, when Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed — the sharpest multi-day break in the price series here. The dated, sourced timeline is on the Strait of Hormuz page. Live data from WTI and Brent history; today's prices on the dashboard.
The Ledger
| Years | Crisis | Price move | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973–74 | Arab oil embargo | Price ~4× (from ~$3 to ~$12) | OPEC's Arab members embargoed the US over the Yom Kippur War — gas lines, speed limits, and the birth of the IEA and the US SPR |
| 1979–80 | Iranian revolution | ~2.5× (to ~$39; ~$150 today) | Iran's output collapsed, then the Iran–Iraq war; panic buying amplified a modest physical shortfall |
| 1986 | The counter-shock | −65% in months | Saudi Arabia abandoned swing-producer role and flooded the market — cheap oil for a decade, and Soviet revenues gutted |
| 1990–91 | Gulf War | ~2× in two months | Iraq invaded Kuwait; prices doubled then fell as the war went well and the SPR was tapped |
| 2008 | The demand spike | Peak $145, then $34 | China-driven demand met stagnant supply — then the financial crisis erased it all in five months |
| 2014–16 | The shale glut | −75% ($107 to $26) | US shale doubled supply; OPEC declined to cut, then formed OPEC+ with Russia to regain control |
| 2020 | COVID collapse | WTI hit −$37.63 | Demand fell ~20% overnight; storage filled; the first negative oil price in history |
| 2022 | The Russia shock | Peak $124; record fuel prices | War in Ukraine rewired global flows — embargoes, price caps, the biggest SPR release ever |
| 2026–present | The Iran war | Brent peak $118, now ~$108 | US–Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February; on 2 March Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed and tanker traffic collapsed — the IEA called it the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. A ceasefire (8 April) and a mid-June US–Iran memorandum partly reopened the strait, but attacks on ships and renewed hostilities on 7–8 July reversed much of that, and flows were still severely constrained in the IEA's and EIA's September reports. Prices eased after the April ceasefire and the June memorandum, then climbed again from July, with US gasoline up ~40% and diesel at record levels |
Modern-era price data (2000→) is on oil price history; the institutions the crises built: the SPR · OPEC and OPEC+ · the petrodollar.
Oil Crisis FAQ
What caused the 1973 oil crisis?
OPEC's Arab members embargoed the US and allies for supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War, while cutting production. Prices roughly quadrupled from about $3 to $12 per barrel; the US endured gas lines and rationing. The lasting legacy: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the IEA, fuel-economy standards, and the end of the era of cheap, secure Middle Eastern oil taken for granted.
What was the worst oil crisis ever?
By price severity, 1979–80 — in inflation-adjusted terms oil hit the equivalent of ~$150 and stayed high for years, deepening a global recession. By sheer strangeness, April 2020, when WTI settled at −$37.63. By supply disruption, the IEA has called the 2026 Iran war's stoppage of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz the largest in the history of the global oil market. By breadth, 2022 arguably touched more consumers worldwide at once (fuel, power and food prices together) than any predecessor.
What is happening with oil prices and the 2026 Iran war?
War between Iran and a US–Israel coalition broke out on 28 February 2026. Iran's Revolutionary Guard declared the Strait of Hormuz closed on 2 March 2026, days after US–Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February, and tanker traffic collapsed. It was a near-total stoppage rather than a perfectly sealed waterway: the IEA puts flows at about 2.7 million barrels a day on average in March–May, against roughly 20 million before the war, and some vessels still passed under an Iranian-controlled permit arrangement. A ceasefire on 8 April and a US–Iran memorandum in mid-June partly reopened the strait, but attacks on ships and renewed hostilities on 7–8 July reversed much of that, and in their September reports both the IEA and the EIA still described flows as constrained. Brent crude surged from about $61 in early January to a peak of $118.35 on March 31, 2026, then fell back to around $72 by July 2026 — after the April ceasefire and the mid-June memorandum — before rebounding to roughly $108 as of October 19, 2026, as attacks on tankers and Gulf oil infrastructure resumed. US retail gasoline and diesel are both at multi-year highs.
Do oil crises repeat a pattern?
Remarkably so: a supply or demand shock meets low spare capacity, prices overshoot on panic and hoarding, high prices then destroy demand and summon new supply, and the bust follows the boom. Each crisis also leaves permanent infrastructure — strategic reserves after 1973, efficiency standards after 1979, OPEC+ after 2016, Europe's LNG pivot after 2022 — though the 2026 Iran war is still unfolding, so its lasting legacy isn't yet clear.