UpTrajectory Review
Oil has crossed $90 a barrel again. The trigger is a U.S. strike on Iranian military installations around the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's retaliation, and the market reaction came fast: light sweet crude traded near $91 on 09/02, Brent near $95.82, and the U.S. national average gasoline price pushed past $4.10 a gallon. The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly 20% of the world's oil and gas shipments, so any shooting near it reprices fuel within hours. This is the highest crude has traded since July, and the timing lands right before Labor Day, the last big driving weekend of the season.
If you run a business with vehicles, a delivery route, or equipment that burns diesel, this is a direct hit to your margin. Fuel is one of the few costs you cannot negotiate down with a better supplier relationship. A contractor running three trucks, a florist doing daily deliveries, a landscaper hauling crews and mowers — all of them feel a 40-cent-per-gallon swing within a week. The national average sat near $3.71 in early July; it has now held above $4 since 07/21. That is six weeks of elevated input cost with no relief in sight.
What the source underplays is how quickly this filters through the rest of your P&L. Diesel follows crude with a lag, so trucking surcharges and freight rates will rise next. Anything you buy that arrives by truck — inventory, packaging, food, parts — gets more expensive. Airlines and shipping carriers add fuel surcharges within days. If you have not reviewed your delivery fees or your fuel surcharge clause with customers in the last month, you are absorbing this spike yourself. That is a choice, not a requirement.
The contested question is how long this lasts. Markets briefly rallied on 09/02 when oil dipped, then gave back gains as tensions persisted. The pattern since July suggests traders want to believe the conflict will de-escalate, but the physical risk to Hormuz shipping has not gone away. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's data, cut off in the source, likely covers inventory levels and production forecasts — the numbers that determine whether $95 Brent becomes the floor or the ceiling.
Watch two things this week: the daily movement at the pump (GasBuddy and AAA update every morning) and whether any shipping insurer or tanker operator formally suspends Hormuz transit. Either would signal a longer disruption. In the meantime, audit your fuel spend now. Map which routes burn the most, consolidate deliveries where you can, and add or update a fuel surcharge in your quotes before your next billing cycle. Waiting for prices to fall is not a strategy.
“The strait is a crucial waterway because around 20% of global oil and gas shipments usually pass through it.” — TheStreet
Takeaway: Add or update a fuel surcharge in your quotes this week before elevated diesel and freight costs erode your margin further.
Excerpt from the original — TheStreet
Oil prices have surged well above $90 per 42-gallon barrel this week as the United States has attacked Iranian military installations in and around the key Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has responded in kind.
The prices are the highest for global benchmarks since July, and the violence has already pushed retail gasoline prices higher at U.S. gas pumps ahead of the Labor Day weekend, the last big holiday before the summer vacation season ends.
Light sweet crude, the U.S. benchmark, was trading at $91 a barrel at midday ET on Sept. 2, according to Oilprice.com. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was quoted at $95.82 a barrel.
GasBuddy.com had its U.S. national average price at $4.106 a gallon on Sept. 2. AAA Fuel Prices put its price at $4.12. U.S. gasoline prices averaged $4.07 a gallon in August, AAA data show, the highest average price for an August.
Both GasBuddy and AAA have …