In an unique interview with Rigzone on Thursday, Artwork Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at B. Riley Wealth, stated oil costs “continued their ascent in a single day as strikes on key vitality infrastructure within the Center East exacerbated fears of a world provide crunch”.
Hogan, who highlighted that oil costs have seen “sharp will increase for the reason that begin of the conflict in Iran”, warned that, “except, and till, there’s a deescalation within the within the conflict in Iran and tanker motion by means of the Strait of Hormuz … reopens, we’re more likely to see excessive vitality costs”.
In one other unique interview with Rigzone at the moment, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (SEB) Chief Commodities Analyst Bjarne Schieldrop highlighted that Oman crude oil has been buying and selling at round $155 per barrel, including that that is “the place the worldwide oil ache began”.
“Ache and shortages are spreading increasingly more, so Brent is heading in direction of that worth as properly,” Schieldrop warned.
Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst on the PRICE Futures Group, highlighted, in one other unique interview with Rigzone at the moment, “increase[d] fears” that Iran “will proceed to combat a conflict in opposition to vitality”.
In a press release despatched to Rigzone on Thursday, Naeem Aslam, Chief Funding officer at Zaye Capital Markets, stated oil is buying and selling “much less like a commodity and extra like a geopolitical asset proper now”.
“The market is firmly priced on danger, not simply demand. The stress across the Strait of Hormuz, mixed with tight OPEC+ provide self-discipline and restricted spare capability, means even minor disruptions are triggering outsized worth strikes,” Aslam added.
“On the similar time, stronger inflation knowledge is reinforcing vitality’s position in retaining worth pressures elevated, making a suggestions loop the place increased oil helps inflation but additionally tightens monetary circumstances,” he continued.
“The important thing near-term driver now shifts to macro knowledge – resilient jobs and development will validate demand and push costs increased, whereas weaker prints might cap positive factors however gained’t absolutely unwind the embedded danger premium,” he went on to state.
Aslam warned that, on this setting, “oil stays in a excessive volatility regime the place geopolitics units the ground and knowledge dictates the momentum”.
In a market replace despatched to Rigzone on Thursday, Rystad Power warned that, “because the Strait of Hormuz stays closed within the wake of the U.S.-Iran navy escalation, Gulf nations’ oil stock ranges are reaching most capability”. Rystad outlined that this poses “critical challenges for regionally primarily based refiners”.
An announcement posted on the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) web site at the moment revealed that GCC Secretary Basic Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi had obtained the EU Particular Consultant for the Gulf Area, Luigi Di Maio, on the Basic Secretariat’s headquarters in Riyadh on Wednesday. That assertion highlighted that Albudaiwi “emphasised the important significance of sustaining the integrity of regional airspace, sea lanes, and the liberty of navigation – together with the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb – to make sure the safety of provide chains and the steadiness of worldwide vitality markets”.
Crude market commentary despatched to Rigzone on Monday by the Sparta Commodities workforce warned that “every week ought to see bodily oil markets begin to worth extra medium-term disruption”.
In that commentary, Neil Crosby, head of analysis at Sparta Commodities, stated, “that is solely week three [of the Iran conflict]”.
“Every passing week merely should see market desperation rise,” he added.
“Bodily crude markets nonetheless haven’t absolutely reacted to the size of disruption,” Crosby went on to state in that commentary.
Brent closed at over $100 per barrel for the primary time in years on March 12, when it got here in at $100.46 per barrel. The final time Brent closed above $100 per barrel was on August 29, 2022, the place it got here in at $105.09 per barrel. Brent rose sharply from an in depth of $70.75 per barrel on February 26, 2026, to an in depth of $98.96 per barrel on March 9.
To contact the writer, e mail andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com

