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Oil prices could surge past $150 as Hormuz bottleneck deepens
Kpler analysts warn that Brent crude may climb above $150 per barrel if vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz stay limited as the US‑Iran ceasefire enters a difficult phase. Brent is currently trading around $94 per barrel. The constrained flow keeps oil markets elevated, according to OilPrice.com.
Also developing:
By the numbers: IFC commits $5.25bn to back FQM's Taca Taca mining project
Amazon announced a 3.5% temporary fuel surcharge on its Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and related third‑party services, effective April 17. The charge targets sellers, not Prime customers, and could pressure the $172 billion marketplace segment while AWS and advertising continue to drive growth.
Oil prices hover near $100 per barrel despite the U.S.–Iran cease‑fire, because the Strait of Hormuz remains tightly controlled by Iran’s IRGC. Traffic through the chokepoint is limited to managed routes, preventing a return to normal commercial shipping. Analysts from...
India's wholesale rice prices jumped up to 7% in two days after a US‑Iran ceasefire sparked a surge in export orders to the Middle East and the United States. Prices had previously fallen up to 6% due to disruptions from...
Crude oil futures settled at $96.57 on Friday, down 1.33% for the day and 14.3% for the week. Prices remain below the 100‑hour ($102.87) and 200‑hour ($103.57) moving averages, reflecting market discounting a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz...
The United States is set to ship a record 5 million barrels of crude per day from the Gulf Coast in May 2026, up from 4.9 mb/d in April and 3.97 mb/d in March. The surge follows a sharp decline in exports that...
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has plummeted to historic lows, with daily transits now under ten vessels—a roughly 70% decline from pre‑conflict levels. The slowdown follows heightened Iranian missile threats and tighter naval inspections, prompting many carriers to...
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South Africa’s paraffin price more than doubled in April, climbing from R11.52 ($0.61) to R23.19 ($1.22) per litre and reaching a retail ceiling of R31.47 ($1.66). Over 500,000 households – many in informal settlements – depend on paraffin for cooking,...
Airports Council International (ACI) Europe warns that a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger jet‑fuel shortages across the EU within weeks. About half of Europe’s jet fuel is sourced through the Persian Gulf, and prices have surged...
Nigeria became a net exporter of gasoline in March, the first time since the Dangote refinery began operations. The refinery processed 565,000 barrels per day of crude, producing 44,000 barrels per day of gasoline, of which 40,000 b/d were exported,...
The Iran‑Israel conflict has pushed the physical spot price of crude to a record $145 a barrel, more than double the level before the Feb. 28 attacks, while the widely quoted Brent futures linger around $109. The widening gap between futures...
Europe’s aggressive rollout of wind and solar has not uniformly shielded countries from soaring gas‑driven electricity prices. Germany now boasts more renewable capacity than Spain, yet its wholesale power costs still surge when natural‑gas prices spike. By contrast, Spain’s electricity...
The Baker Hughes weekly rig count slipped by three to a total of 545 rigs, with oil rigs unchanged at 411 and natural‑gas rigs falling to 127. Crude oil prices nudged up $0.57 to $98.45 per barrel, yet the weekly...
China will end its 9 % export tax rebate on photovoltaic modules, cells and inverters on April 1, prompting African power developers to rush purchases before prices rise. Solar accounts for just 3 % of Africa’s electricity but is expanding rapidly through mini‑grids...
The protracted closure of the Strait of Hormuz has lifted Brent crude past $100 a barrel and sent North Sea Forties Blend to a record $147, prompting China to tap its commercial oil reserves and curb refined fuel exports. The...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 3.3% year‑over‑year rise in U.S. consumer prices for March, the steepest increase in two years. The surge is tied to an oil shock sparked by the Iran‑Israel war, pushing gasoline to $4.15 a...
Fastmarkets corrected the published FOB prices for Japan‑sourced seamless linepipe. The API 5L B grade price was lowered from $14,500 to $1,450 per tonne, and the API 5L X65 grade from $16,500 to $1,650 per tonne. The updates are now...
The Iran‑Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz have halted roughly 20% of global oil and LNG flows, driving crude toward $100 a barrel and pushing U.S. gasoline above $4 per gallon. Nations that have already built...
The Iran‑US war has snarled maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, leaving 1.9 million tonnes of fertiliser on 41 vessels – about 12% of the strait’s 2024 output – and driving urea prices up 70%. The disruption has forced airlines...
The World Gold Council reported that gold fell 12% in March to $4,608 an ounce, the sharpest monthly decline since June 2013. The slide was driven by massive ETF outflows, a COMEX net‑long unwind and a price‑trend reversal, underscoring a...
Airports Council International Europe warned EU officials that prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger jet‑fuel shortages across the continent. The warning follows President Trump’s cease‑fire pact with Iran, yet tanker traffic remains well below pre‑conflict volumes. The...
State-owned CECEP issued 29.5 million convertible bonds, raising ¥2.95 bn ($432 million) to fund six photovoltaic plants and storage projects totaling 900 MW. The total project outlay is about ¥4.57 bn ($670 million). Meanwhile, China’s polysilicon market saw its seventh consecutive weekly price drop, with N‑type...
Coffee prices, after hitting record highs, have begun to recede but remain well above historical norms. A stronger 2026‑27 Brazil harvest, projected to rise 17% year‑on‑year, could increase supply, while Vietnam’s market volatility and new EU deforestation rules keep the...
The escalation between the United States, Israel and Iran has forced the Strait of Hormuz to close intermittently, tightening the global fertilizer supply chain and pushing prices to multi‑year highs. Brazil, which imports roughly 99% of its nitrogen, phosphate and...
Indian refiners will keep buying Russian crude oil after the U.S. 30‑day sanctions exemption expires on April 11, driven by ongoing supply uncertainty from West Asia and damaged regional infrastructure. West Asian shipments, which once supplied about half of India’s crude,...
Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange rose to $12,845 a metric ton, the highest level since March 17, as investors weighed stronger demand in China against a fragile cease‑fire in the Iran conflict. The benchmark three‑month contract gained 0.6%...
Physical oil prices in the North Sea have surged to about $147 a barrel, creating a $50 premium over Brent futures that sit near $97. The gap reflects a scramble by European and Asian refiners to secure immediate supply amid...
Cotton prices in India firmed above the ₹60,000 per candy (~$720) threshold for the first time this season, mirroring a rise in ICE futures that reached 73 cents per pound. The Cotton Corporation of India lifted the minimum support price...
Investor‑facing uranium coverage now leans on a familiar formula: structural supply deficit, reactor build‑out, energy‑security tailwinds and an inevitable "pinch point." The article argues that this narrative eclipses the hard question of which projects can actually obtain permits, financing and...
Corn prices have slipped to a four‑week low as the US‑Iran cease‑fire removes the immediate threat of nitrogen‑fertilizer disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts at BMI, a Fitch Solutions unit, lifted their 2026 average CBOT corn forecast to 458.2 cents...
CHART OF THE DAY: The European natural gas crisis of 2022 vs the 2026 (so far) mini-shock. The chart starts in July (both for 2021 and 2025) and tracks prices over 2022 and YTD 2026. Of course, full caveat: the Persian...
The Food Industry Association (FMI) highlighted the March Consumer Price Index, showing a 0.2% month‑over‑month dip in food‑at‑home prices while overall grocery inflation remains 1.9% higher than a year ago. Core staples such as beef, poultry, fish, eggs, cereal, bakery...
Here's something to think about and chew on: The mass production shut-ins across the Gulf (~13 MMbpd) imply effectively negative crude prices West of Hormuz—otherwise they could and would still be selling to someone. But futures markets are "implying" (as far as...
Platinum $PLAT. Monthly. +7.2%. Inflation returns ... and it begs the question: 'Will Platinum take out $2,300/oz resistance and head back higher toward $3K?" https://t.co/Oi2arghgMa
U.S. regular gasoline prices jumped 25% from February to March, reaching $3.64 per gallon, the steepest monthly percentage gain since the Energy Information Administration began tracking data in 1990. The surge is linked to heightened geopolitical risk from the ongoing...
Time to get excited about energy markets? The Bloomberg Energy Spot Subindex is up almost 50% in 2026, to unchanged since 2005! https://t.co/mPF44O7Vkt
Commodities (per the Bloomberg Commodity Spot index below) are at new highs, driven largely but not exclusively by energy. Some 83% of the components in the BCOMSP are in uptrends. https://t.co/p7ml7lMWnw
Oil could revisit wartime price peaks if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked until July, JPMorgan Chase notes. The market expects half of normal oil flows to resume by May and full capacity by June, but a slower return to...
Very cool seeing the wave of empty tankers heading to the US to pick up some desperately needed crude for Hormuz-starved markets. All the tankers on the map below are empty VLCCs (~2 million barrel capacity each) currently heading for the...
East Coast vs. West Coast - Gasoline Imports Edition: Interesting trend developing in weekly data. The U.S. East Coast, typically the region that imports the most, has imports falling counter-seasonally. The West Coast, which has growing imports, has imports increasing...
ING warns that if the Iran conflict pushes EU nations to replace natural‑gas with coal, the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) allowance price could surge, raising costs for energy‑intensive firms. The bank notes that the ETS cap is tightening and...
We said if Hormuz stayed close until mid-April, global supply chains were mathematically certain to begin collapsing, including in the US. Right on cue, on April 10👇 Things will rapidly get much worse from here if Hormuz stays closed “What’s the trade?” =...
Silver Miners $SILJ vs Price of Silver $SLV. Are Silver stocks coiling ahead of their next advance? https://t.co/euKkgG5sKP
The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the March Consumer Price Index at 8:30 a.m. ET, with analysts warning of a sharp rise driven by a 1% jump in oil prices to $98.6 per barrel amid fragile US‑Iran ceasefire talks. Futures...
While phys/spot crude $ HAS to reflect immediate supply/demand pressures, and the spread to future cargoes needs to reflect scarcity (backwardation) or surplus (contango), futures $ never NEED to converge—and can remain steeply below—to those same levels in the short/medium-term
Europe is running out of jet fuel Shortages loom in weeks if Hormuz stays constrained Diesel is the hemoglobin of the economy so Europe will be on economic life support soon https://t.co/52nJDPZ2vH #Energy #OilMarkets #Aviation #Geopolitics
U.S. headline inflation surged in March 2026, driven by a sharp rise in oil prices that lifted the all‑items CPI to its highest level since June 2022. Gasoline prices in Southern California peaked at $6.79 per gallon, a local record...
US gas price increase. Trump talks of US oil. So why are gas— and diesel — prices increasing like this?
So, the oil and gas infrastructure of major OPEC+ producers in the Gulf and Russia is being blocked, disrupted, and damaged... While China is forced to halt exports of petroleum products, and the US is supplying fuel to satellite countries like...
The Central Bank of Argentina’s latest REM survey lifted the median 2026 inflation forecast to 29.1%, a 3.1‑point jump driven by the Iran‑related oil price surge. The revision threatens the country’s recent disinflation gains and adds pressure on the peso,...
USDA confirms the following U.S. export sales for delivery in 2025/26: ▪️100,000 metric tons of soybean meal to Italy ▪️125,640 metric tons of corn to unknown destinations
