Oil prices could hit $200 per barrel if the war in Iran persists through the end of June, according to strategists from Macquarie Group.
If the war were to stretch well into the summer, the strategists wrote in a client note on Wednesday, prices would need to move high enough to “destroy an historically large amount of global oil demand,” likely requiring Brent crude prices above $200 per barrel and pushing US gasoline prices up to roughly $7 per gallon.
On Friday, Brent (BZ=F) futures traded above $104 per barrel, holding onto roughly 3% gains on the day even after President Trump pushed back his deadline for striking Iranian domestic power infrastructure for a second time. US benchmark WTI crude (CL=F) held onto slightly higher gains to trade above $96 per barrel.
Earlier in the conflict, the two energy products reached prices not seen since the early months of 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Macquarie strategists, led by Vikas Dwivedi, assigned a roughly 40% probability to their bull case of $200 per barrel oil. More likely, the strategists wrote, is a situation in which the war ends by the beginning of April, oil prices moderate, economic costs remain small, and global growth only slightly slows.
“The market is still expecting President Trump to soon declare victory, with oil and gas futures heavily backwardated,” the strategists wrote. “However, given uncertainty about what victory looks like, and recent attacks on energy infrastructure, there is a risk that prices may need to move significantly higher first to incentivise a near-term deal.”