BlockBeats news: On April 3, spot Brent crude oil (the North Sea physical delivery benchmark) broke above the $140 per-barrel high. This is the highest level since 2008. According to S&P Global, the price of Brent crude oil delivered in the North Sea reached $141.37 per barrel, the highest level since 2008. The Strait of Hormuz has now been closed for more than a month, causing what the International Energy Agency calls the largest supply disruption in the history of the oil market.
The strait accounts for about one-fifth of global oil transport volumes, and refineries have been scrambling over these past weeks to obtain any oil they can get. A day earlier, spot Brent crude was still slightly below $128 per barrel, but the current price is now higher than the peak of the 2022 Russia-Ukraine crisis. The benchmark Brent crude futures price remains below that level at the time, but spot Brent crude represents the price of crude oil trades over a shorter period of time. (Jin10)