DUBAI, Aug. 16 -- Ten ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Before the war, it was about 130 a day. That gap, and not any shift in demand, is the reason a barrel of Brent costs $88.52 going into this weekend.

Crude settled higher on Friday and closed the week sharply up. Brent finished at $88.52 a barrel, a gain of $1.45 or 1.67 percent on the day, while US West Texas Intermediate settled at $82.40. Both benchmarks added more than five percent across the week, recovering a two percent dip in the previous session. Brent is now roughly four percent higher on the month and about 34 percent higher than a year ago, which places today's oil price closer to the levels of the 1970s disruptions than to anything in recent memory.

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