The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, March 4, edition that prices for West Texas Intermediate crude started the year at $57 a barrel. A Postmedia dispatch to the Post reports that on Monday, WTI crude for April delivery jumped more than $4 a barrel, closing at $71.23. That is more than $10 a barrel above Alberta's forecast oil price for the budget year that begins April 1. Oil market analysts and energy companies are watching to determine how the war in the Middle East will affect global energy markets and flows in the coming weeks. There were reports Monday that Qatar will halt its production of LNG, that the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia had been targeted by Iranian drone attacks and that Iran's Revolutionary Guards had said that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. Ensign Energy Services president Bob Geddes says, "Oil is tightening up, and if the Strait of Hormuz gets tangled up more seriously, oil goes to 100 bucks, easy." The potential effect on prices depends on the duration of any supply disruptions from the region, say analysts. University of Calgary's School of Public Policy's Robert Johnston says, "Markets will remain volatile until we get some sense of what the endgame is here."