Dated Brent, the physical benchmark that underpins most global crude oil transactions, surged to an unprecedented $144.42 a barrel on Tuesday as buyers raced to secure barrels for near-term delivery amid fallout from the Iran war and disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.
The price marked the highest reading since Platts, the S&P Global Energy unit that publishes Dated Brent, began the measure in 1987. Dated Brent tracks shipments available in the coming weeks from the North Sea and other Atlantic Basin sources and is widely used to value actual cargoes — a closer reflection of immediate market tightness than longer-dated Brent futures, which were trading near $109 on Tuesday.
Traders monitoring the Platts window reported a flurry of activity that day: 12 unanswered bids for cargoes were logged during the pricing window, sending values for those shipments sharply higher. Platts said the surge in Dated “reflects historic market volatility and supply disruptions,” highlighting how the front-month market is signaling acute scarcity of barrels ready for prompt delivery.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley, including Martijn Rats, described buyers as “paying an exceptional premium for secure, refinery-usable Atlantic Basin barrels available now.” They added that once Asian buyers began outbidding others for Atlantic replacement cargoes, the strain migrated into the Brent system, amplifying premiums for immediate supply. The result has been a widening gap between immediate physical prices and futures, as market participants scramble to lock in supply.
The spike is closely tied to the conflict involving Iran, which has choked flows through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint that normally transits roughly a fifth of the world’s oil. With shipments constrained, refiners and middlemen have been forced to compete fiercely for available cargoes, boosting not only crude premiums but also profits on refined products. Traders noted that the squeeze is raising margins for refining into diesel and jet fuel, commodities that are already under stress amid tighter crude availability.
The sharp move in Dated Brent underscores how physical-market dynamics can decouple near-term pricing from futures contracts that factor in expectations about supply and demand months ahead. Market participants say the current environment — characterized by unanswered bids, logistical bottlenecks and heightened geopolitical risk — is creating an exceptional premium for immediately deliverable barrels, with implications for fuel availability and refining economics globally.