Fifty years after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, the current crisis in the Middle East has the potential to disrupt global oil supplies and push prices higher. But don’t expect a repeat of the catastrophic price hikes and long lines at the gasoline pump, experts say.

The Israel-Hamas war is “definitely not good news” for oil markets already stretched by cutbacks in oil production from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

Markets will remain volatile, and the conflict could push oil prices higher, “which is definitely bad news for inflation,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA said. Developing countries that import oil and other fuels would be the most affected by higher prices, he said.

International benchmark Brent crude closed at $93 a barrel on Friday, up from $85 on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel, killing hundreds of civilians. Israel immediately launched airstrikes on Gaza, destroying entire neighborhoods and killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the days that have followed.

Fluctuations since the attack pushed oil prices as high as $96.

The price of oil depends on how much of it is getting used and how much is available. The latter is under threat because of the Hamas-Israel war, even though the Gaza Strip is not home to major crude production.

One worry is that the fighting could lead to complications with Iran, home of some of the world’s largest oil reserves. Its crude production has been constrained by international sanctions, but oil is still flowing to China and other countries.

“In order to get a sustained move (in prices), we really would need to see a supply disruption,” said Andrew Lipow, president at Lipow Oil Associates, a Houston-based consultant.

Any damage to Iranian oil infrastructure from a military strike by Israel could send prices jumping globally. Even without that, a shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz that lies south of Iran could also shake the oil market because so much of the world’s supplies goes through the waterway.

Until something like that happens, “the oil market is going to be like everyone else, monitoring the events in the Middle East,” Lipow said.

One reason 1970s-style gas lines are unlikely: U.S. oil production is at an all-time high. The U.S. Energy Information Administration, an arm of the Energy Department, reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

“The energy crisis of 1973 taught us many things, but in my mind, the most critical is that American energy strength is a tremendous source of security, prosperity and freedom around the world,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. oil industry’s top lobbying group.

In a speech Wednesday marking the 50th anniversary of the 1973 oil embargo, Sommers said current U.S. production contrasts sharply with “America’s weakened position during the Arab oil embargo.” He urged U.S. policymakers to heed what he called the lessons of 1973.

“We cannot squander our strategic advantage and retreat on energy leadership,” said Sommers, who has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden’s policies restricting restricting new oil leases as part of Biden’s efforts to slow global climate change.

“With an unstable world, war in Europe, war in the Middle East, and energy demand outstripping supply, energy security is on the line,” Sommers said in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank.

“American oil and gas are needed now more than ever,” Sommers said. “Let’s take to heart the lessons we learned from 1973 and avoid sowing the seeds of the next energy crisis.”

For now, the crisis isn’t a repeat of 1973. Arab countries aren’t attacking Israel in unison, and OPEC+ nations have not moved to restrict supplies or boost prices beyond a few extra dollars.

There are several wild cards in the energy market. One is the supply of Iranian oil. Eager to avoid a spike in gasoline prices and inflation, the U.S. has quietly tolerated some exports of Iranian oil to destinations such as China instead of going all in on sanctions aimed at Iran’s nuclear program.

If Iran, which has warned Israel not to undertake a ground offensive, escalates the Gaza conflict — including a possible attack by Hezbollah militants in Lebanon supported by Iran — that might change the U.S. stance. “If the U.S. were then also to enforce the oil sanctions against Iran more strictly again, the oil market would tighten noticeably,” say commodities analysts at Commerzbank.

A shake went through the oil market Wednesday after Iran’s foreign minister called on Muslim nations to launch an oil embargo on Israel, but prices soon ebbed.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties, meanwhile, have urged Biden to block Iranian oil sales, seeking to dry up one of the regime’s key sources of funding.

Another wild card is how Saudi Arabia would respond if Iranian oil is restricted. Oil analysts say that while the Saudis may welcome recent oil price hikes, they don’t want a massive price spike that would fuel inflation, higher central bank interest rates and possible recession in oil-consuming countries that ultimately would limit or even kill off demand for oil.

A third unknown is whether more oil will reach the market from Venezuela. The U.S. agreed Wednesday to temporarily suspend some sanctions on the country’s oil, gas and gold sectors after Venezuela’s government and a faction of its opposition formally agreed to work together on election reforms.

Venezuelan production could increase in 2024. In the next six months, however, production could ramp up by some 200,000 barrels a day, a relative drop in the ocean, according to Sofia Guidi Di Sante, senior oil market analyst at Rystad Energy.

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, slammed the U.S. action as a “gimmick” that appeases a brutal regime in Venezuela.

“Joe Biden’s energy policies put America last,” Barrasso said, citing the Democratic president’s decisions to kill the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline and sell off significant portions of the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking it to its lowest level since the 1980s. The Energy Department said Thursday it will seek offers to start refilling the oil reserve in December, with monthly solicitations expected through May 2024.

“He eased sanctions on Iran, which funds terrorism across the Middle East. Now with Israel under attack, Biden is desperate for anything to mask the consequences of his reckless policies,” Barrasso said. “America should never beg for oil from socialist dictators or terrorists.”

The Treasury Department says it has targeted nearly 1,000 individuals and entities connected to terrorism and terrorist financing by the Iranian regime and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and other groups in the region.

“We will continue to take action as appropriate to counter Iran’s destabilizing activity in the region and around the world,” Treasury said in a statement.

The Bruins’ offense, not exactly prolific in the team’s first three wins of the season, was set to face the Los Angeles Kings shorthanded on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.

And it was a self-inflicted loss.

B’s coach Jim Montgomery informed reporters in LA after the morning skate that winger Jake DeBrusk was late for a team meeting and that he would be a healthy scratch against the Kings, the B’s toughest opponent thus far in this young season.

“That’s why he’s out of the lineup,” said Montgomery.

This surely is not the way DeBrusk had wanted to start what could be the most important season of his career from a personal standpoint. He is in the final year of a two-year contact that pays him $4 million a season and, in his first crack at unrestricted free agency, he appears to be in a position to take a sizable step up in play.

Last season, he matched a career-high of 27 goals despite missing a month of the season with a broken leg. He’s also become a more complete player in the last couple years, now playing a regular role on the penalty kill unit.

The PK has gone 13-for-13 to start the season, but DeBrusk has not yet been able to get on the scoreboard.

This is not the first time that the 27-year-old DeBrusk has made news off the ice. He had butted heads with former coach Bruce Cassidy off and on throughout his young career and, two seasons ago, his trade request became public. But the B’s held on to him, DeBrusk’s game gained some consistency and he appeared to have turned a corner under Montgomery.

Perhaps this is a one-time blip and it can be put in the rear view mirror quickly, but it bears watching.

While DeBrusk’s scratch made room for Patrick Brown to make his Bruin debut – he skated with John Beecher and Jakub Lauko in the morning skate – while veteran Milan Lucic bumped up to the first line to skate with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak.

“I give him credit. He looks really good,” said Montgomery of Lucic. “He’s making plays. He’s holding players accountable for how we want to play on the bench as far as his leadership and his words. And I think he’s looked good skating wise. He’s on top of pucks, he’s winning foot-races, which is a credit to him because he’s come here and he’s assimilated to how we want to play and he’s playing fast.”

Montgomery also used the first half of the back-to-back to give defenseman Ian Mitchell his Bruin debut in Kevin Shattenkirk’s spot.

“He’s played very aggressive. I’ve liked his skating and his puck management and someone who had a really good camp, so we’re excited to see him play,” said Montgomery of Mitchell.

A long list of students flocked to the latest Boston School Committee meeting to join the growing number of critics of exam school admissions changes and plans to move to the O’Bryant School to West Roxbury.

Both topics have been controversial touchpoints for parents, teachers and students over the last several months.

Exam school admissions headlined the last school committee meeting, with Committee Member Brandon Cardet-Hernandez and many parents pushing frustrations with the policy and lack of action.

The complicated system aims to more equitably distribute seats by dividing students into geographic socioeconomic tiers and awarding extra points to students in certain circumstances

Many have argued the changes do not actually equitably distribute seats, unfairly advantage certain students and make it nigh impossible for certain sets of students to get into the schools.

“I have so many friends and teammates from my street in my neighborhood who got into exam schools with scores much lower than mine because they attended a bonus-point school,” said Eliot School seventh grader Grace Nothnagel, referring to the 10-point advantage awarded to students at a school with over 40% economically disadvantaged students.

It’s a sentiment echoed by other students, many from the same school, who said they felt like “an unattended consequence” of the policy.

“Why are they allowed to attend an exam schools but I’m not? What could I have done differently? This policy gave me zero chance,” she said.

Superintendent Mary Skipper noted in her report Wednesday that her team is “gathering the information” on the timeline and rationale behind the exam school admissions changes and expects it to be ready before the next committee meeting in two weeks.

Students also rallied around many critiques of the O’Bryant School move, emphasizing the concern that moving the district’s most diverse exam school from Roxbury to the less central, less diverse West Roxbury location has high community and transportation costs.

District leadership announced the proposal to move the O’Bryant to the vacant West Roxbury Education Complex in June.

“We wish our parents could be here tonight to get their testimony,” said O’Bryant senior Jamie Martin, noting that many of their parents work long hours or are not fluent in English. “And we are here instead because this is our school, and we wanted to stay in Roxbury. The opportunity that the school offers is so special because the area we live in.”

Martin noted that she hopes her younger siblings can have the same opportunities she’s had at the school in Roxbury because it’s a school “where we can all belong.”

Later on, BPS officials presented the district’s new Inclusive Education Plan, based on recommendations from the district’s extended studies into disparities for students with disabilities, multilingual learners and those in historically underserved groups.

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Skipper called the plan “complex” and “urgent” and said it “serves as a roadmap for the district to deliver on the promise of providing an excellent, inclusive and equitable education in the least-restrictive environment for students with disabilities, especially our black and brown students, and our multilingual learners with disability.”

The plan makes four broad shifts, BPS staff outlined: increasing access to grade-level learning; ensuring the inclusive delivery of interventions, supports and services; engaging in team-based planning and collaboration; and resetting district infrastructure with systems of support and accountability.

The issues are “more than 100 years rooted in systemic racial disparities,” she continued, and the district must recognize things like culture and experience as assets and create a system to educate students based on “their individual needs and diversity.”

Staff pointed to data points marking stark disparities in BPS’s inclusive education. Black male students are 3.13 times more likely to be identified as having an emotional impairment, speakers said, and multilingual learners are 2.5 times more likely to be identified as having a communications disability.

The plan will be implemented across the district over the next five school years.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week ordered Norfolk Southern to continue cleaning up creeks in East Palestine, Ohio, where there are still visible effects of the February derailment of a train carrying hazardous materials.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited East Palestine earlier this week, and the agency said 98% of the excavation of the derailment site has been completed.

EPA says as of this month, there has been an estimated 148,662 tons of solid waste and 34.3 million gallons of wastewater hauled out and shipped. Solid waste is being incinerated or placed in specially-designed landfills designed to minimize the chance of releasing hazardous waste into the environment.

Now, EPA says it is ordering “a similarly comprehensive investigation of oil-contaminated sediments in the creeks.”

Norfolk Southern said the order “formalizes the continuation of work that has been ongoing since the derailment,” and that the company “remains cooperative.”

Wall Street’s worst week in a month closes out with more losses

Wall Street closed out its worst week in a month with more losses.

The S&P 500 fell 1.3% Friday. The Dow lost 286 points, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.5%. The stock market has been under pressure from the bond market, where the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly touched 5% Thursday evening for the first time since 2007.

High yields make borrowing more expensive for everyone, and they slow the economy while dragging on investment prices. The 10-year yield eased Friday, but only after hanging near 4.99% in the morning. Crude oil prices fluctuated, and gold’s price rose.