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Brent Briefly Trades Above $100/bbl

Brent briefly trades above $100 on uncertainty around peace talks and further attacks on ships; Chinese majors sell WAF crude cargos
Published: April 22, 2026
Written by:
Vincent Wu

Vincent Wu

Research Associate, Flux
Vincent Wu
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The Jun’26 Brent crude futures briefly traded above $100/bbl on Tuesday evening before opening lower around $98 on Wednesday morning.

Prices then reached highs of $100.40/bbl at 09:37 BST before falling to the $99 level by 10:30 BST (time of writing). Prices jumped following reports of gunfire attacks on at least three container ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier, President Donald Trump had said he would indefinitely extend the ceasefire with Iran, hours before its expiry, adding that the US will continue to blockade Iran’s ports until Tehran presents a “unified proposal”. In the news, Ukraine says Druzhba pipeline repairs are complete and is ready to resume crude flows to Hungary and Slovakia, potentially unlocking EU financial aid to Kyiv. Chinese oil majors are selling cargos of West African and other crudes due to utilisation cuts. At least two companies, Sinochem and Unipec, have sold cargos from Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana to buyers including refiners from Taiwan and Indonesia. According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, Indian imports of Russian crude rebounded to 2.1mb/d in March, almost double February’s 1.1mb/d, and is India’s highest level of Russian-origin crude oil discharges since July 2023. United Airlines slashed its full-year profit forecast as higher jet fuel prices squeeze margins. Meanwhile, Lufthansa will scrub 20,000 short-haul flights from its European summer schedule to save on jet fuel, where the cuts will amount to 1% of available seat-kilometers and save around 40kt of jet fuel. Finally, the Jun/Jul and Jun/Dec Brent futures spreads are at $5.22/bbl and $16.95/bbl respectively.

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