Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
Global energy prices - statistics & facts
After reaching historic highs in 2022, global energy prices spent most of 2023 and 2024 on a gradual downward path, moving closer to pre-war levels. That trajectory has been interrupted by renewed geopolitical instability in the Middle East, including disruptions to oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz 鈥 the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world's daily oil supply passes. The reemergence of supply risk through this critical corridor has renewed upward pressure on energy prices heading into 2026.
Geopolitical shocks on oil prices
After two years of declining annual averages following the 2022 price spike, crude oil benchmarks have begun rising again in early 2026. The weekly oil prices of Brent, WTI, and OPEC basket have all moved to their highest levels in several years. In the United States, gasoline and diesel prices had been broadly stable or declining throughout most of 2024 and into 2025, offering consumers sustained relief following the sharp peaks of 2022. That pattern broke abruptly in the first week of March 2026, with diesel recording one of its steepest single-week price increases in recent years, and regular gasoline climbing sharply in parallel.
Coal and renewables
While oil markets have returned to volatility, coal prices have continued falling since their 2022 record and now stand well below that peak, supported by higher production and weaker demand. In 2024, onshore wind and utility-scale solar photovoltaic ranked among the lowest-cost options for new generation globally, while nuclear remained the most expensive on a levelized cost basis 鈥 a multiple of what wind and solar require. This structural cost advantage may increasingly insulate electricity markets from the recurring geopolitical shocks that continue to affect oil and gas prices.
Two forces, one market
Geopolitical risk and falling generation costs are pulling energy markets in opposite directions. Chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz and other global conflicts remain capable of producing sharp, sudden price spikes 鈥 as both 2023 and 2025 have shown. At the same time, the cost of generating electricity from onshore wind and solar has continued to decline, with both technologies now among the lowest-cost sources of new generation worldwide, and further reductions are forecast through the mid-2030s. As such alternatives become more cost-efficient, more markets are likely to move toward them to become less exposed to the supply disruptions that have defined previous years. 聽
