The $100 mark is "traditionally a psychological marker," chief economist at EY Loretta O'Sullivan told RTÉ's Morning Ireland as oil prices soared to their highest level since mid-2022.
Brent crude traded at $106 per barrel this morning after breaking the $100 barrier for the first time in four years.
"When oil goes above this, you tend to get traders thinking about the implications of energy market disruption, with knock-on spillover effects to the global economy," Ms O'Sullivan added.
As oil producers in the Gulf are limitting or stopping their output, concerns rise over how this will impact the broader economy, business costs for firms and inflation for consumers.
Whether it will get to increased inflation, depends on the duration of this energy shock, the EY analyst noted.
"If it is short-lived, the effect on inflation isn't very severe and the impact on the economy isn't much, then we're likely to see central banks look through it," she said.
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But if the shock is more severe and "drags on" the European Central Bank could consider to "alter its trajectory," Ms O'Sullivan said.
Investors now see a one in two chance the ECB would have to raise rates by the end of the year to contain price pressures.
The euro zone interest rate has been unchanged at 2% since June last year.
The EY expert noted that the crisis highlights the need to look into Ireland's energy independence.
"The fact that we are experiencing a second energy price shock in the space of a couple of years ... does reinforce the importance in a European context Irish context of energy security and looking at our own resources, like renewables," Ms O'Sullivan said.
