Rather, it is geopolitical factors—specifically, escalating tensions in the Middle East—that are unsettling markets and pushing prices higher.

Israel has attacked Iran to prevent it from getting a nuclear weapon. Discover 2 top dividend stocks poised to soar as markets react to Israel-Iran tensions.

The Iran shock presents two risks to the price of oil, which rose 8 per cent to $74 a barrel on Friday morning, a sizeable jump for a single day. The first is that, in the context of the rising hostilities, Iran’s current crude exports, which have already been softening, could fall further.

Police have urged people not to drive through a large oil slick after a motorist suffered serious injuries in a crash near Boston in Lincolnshire. Officers were called to a collision between a car and a HGV on the A1121 Boardsides, close to the junction with the A17, at about 21:50 BST on Thursday.

When Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndatiwah was elected in March, she placed the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sectors directly under the control of her office. Since then, viral posts have been circulating claiming that Namibia cancelled oil and gas deals with the United States to prioritise state-owned operations.

Market watchers believe a full-scale disruption of global oil flows by closing the waterway is unlikely, and might even be physically impossible.

The Reserve Bank of India is believed to have sold dollars to support the rupee after a surge in oil prices, triggered by Israeli strikes on Iran, put pressure on the currency, three traders told Reuters on Friday.