{"id":2494,"date":"2026-10-07T08:33:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/07\/brent-oil-stays-above-100\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:33:03","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:33:03","slug":"brent-oil-stays-above-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/2026\/10\/07\/brent-oil-stays-above-100\/","title":{"rendered":"Brent Crude Holds Above $100 Amid Supply Risks and High Shipping Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- Quick Adsense WordPress Plugin: http:\/\/quickadsense.com\/ -->\n<div class=\"9fece8afa224fd09e54b043d0febfb58\" data-index=\"1\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- NR ATF -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8898941184964366\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"4839033563\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>Brent crude prices have remained above the $100\u2011per\u2011barrel threshold for most of the past month, even though recent tanker\u2011tracking data and investment\u2011bank reports indicate that crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz have recovered to, and in some cases surpassed, pre\u2011war levels.<\/p>\n<h2>High Shipping Costs Keep Prices Elevated<\/h2>\n<p>Returning to pre\u2011war flow volumes does not equate to a return to normal market conditions. Freight rates for moving oil out of the Middle East have surged to record highs, and war\u2011risk premiums on tankers have risen sharply as attacks in the Strait of Hormuz continue. Gulf producers have been forced to use alternative routes that are less efficient, cost more for buyers, and add weeks to the time needed to deliver crude to refineries.<\/p>\n<p>Refiners are attempting to maintain high processing rates in order to capture record\u2011high refining margins, especially for diesel, which the article describes as the most stressed barrel of oil. The combination of elevated shipping costs and the need to keep refineries running at capacity adds upward pressure on the front\u2011month Brent futures price.<\/p>\n<h2>Geopolitical Risks and Inventory Shortfalls<\/h2>\n<p>Fuel exports from the Middle East remain limited, while Russian diesel shipments are effectively non\u2011existent because Moscow has banned diesel exports. China is again protecting its domestic supply and curbing fuel flows overseas. At the same time, global oil inventories have fallen sharply this year. The drawdown in crude and fuel stocks that provided relief after the peak of Strait of Hormuz disruptions in April and May has left inventories so thin that they may be unable to absorb another escalation in the U.S.\u2013Iran conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The geopolitical landscape is the biggest unknown for oil prices moving forward. The war shows no signs of ending soon, and markets are wary of fresh escalations either before or after the U.S. midterm elections in early November. Such events could threaten the recovery of oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, a risk highlighted by a related Gulf\u2011storm threat that could endanger three\u202fmillion barrels per day of refining capacity.<\/p>\n<p>With depleted inventory cushions, the market continues to price in an elevated war\u2011risk premium, keeping Brent above $100 per barrel since early September. Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo\u202fBank, said a sustained move lower in Brent would require broader normalisation, including improved crude supply, recovery of product exports and reduced political and financial shipping risks.<\/p>\n<h2>Policy Moves and Market Reactions<\/h2>\n<p>On Friday, the G7 announced the release of 100\u202fmillion barrels of crude oil and diesel stocks. After an initial knee\u2011jerk reaction that pushed prices lower, Brent remained above $100 per barrel in Asian trade on Tuesday. Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB\u202fBank, noted that the market is uncertain how many of the 100\u202fmillion barrels are truly \u201cnew\u201d versus the remainder of the International Energy Agency\u2019s earlier pledge to release 425\u202fmillion barrels, some of which were never actually released.<\/p>\n<p>Schieldrop also pointed out a price divergence: while front\u2011month Brent futures hover around $100 per barrel, North Sea crudes such as Oseberg and Fortis trade at about $140 per barrel. He listed several upside risks that could keep Brent at current levels, including the possibility of fresh Iranian attacks before the U.S. midterms, a U.S. response after the elections, the ability of the Strait of Hormuz to stay open at 17.5\u202fmillion barrels per day, and potential re\u2011attacks by the Houthis on Saudi infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Senior oil analyst Xuyi Zhao of Guotai\u202fJunan Futures told Bloomberg that the market is pricing not only the volume of crude being loaded but also whether those barrels can be delivered safely, reliably and at low cost. The higher cost of getting crude to refiners, combined with low inventories that cannot offset a near\u2011term disruption, sets the stage for another price spike if a supply route in the Middle East is attacked, as happened with Saudi Arabia\u2019s East\u2011West pipeline to the Red Sea last month.<\/p>\n<p>Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser warned that \u201cwith precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin.\u201d He added that emergency reserves might buy a winter but cannot fix long\u2011term supply, and that until the Strait of Hormuz fully re\u2011opens and confidence returns, pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify.<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brent crude has stayed above $100 a barrel despite reports of pre\u2011war level flows, as record freight rates, war risk premiums and thin inventories keep the market on edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[299],"tags":[2729,2731,2730,1844,1529],"class_list":["post-2494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-brent-oil","tag-energy-market","tag-global-inventories","tag-oil-prices","tag-strait-of-hormuz","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsraise.com\/in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}