Oman crude touches $104.54 as supply disruption looms
Published: 09:09 AM,Sep 07,2026 | EDITED : 01:09 PM,Sep 07,2026
The price of Oman crude increased by $2.74 to $104.54 for November delivery at the close of Monday's trading.
The average monthly price for October was $87.84.
The average monthly price for October was $87.84.
Meanwhile, Brent climbed 1.1% to reach $97.37 a barrel , having surged almost 8% last week, while U.S. crude rose 1.2% to $92.57 a barrel.
A shortage of fuel oil used in ships and power plants looms in the third quarter as refiners increasingly squeezed by wars that have disrupted both crude processing and tanker traffic prioritise output of diesel and other products at its expense.
While crude oil has avoided major price spikes in recent months, refined product prices have soared as strikes damage refineries in Russia and the Middle East and curbs on ship traffic choke flows.
China has also cut refining capacity and exports to avoid burning stocks.
Tightening supply threatens to further raise costs for shipowners and power generators already dealing with war-related disruptions. Higher bunker fuel costs could also in turn feed into shipping rates.
Asia will be hardest-hit as it is most reliant on Gulf flows disrupted by the Iran War, with Singapore, the world's largest bunker hub, importing more than half its nearly 1 million barrels a day of demand, according to import data from Kpler.
Consultancy Rystad has a similar outlook.The deficit is expected to hit 218,000 barrels per day in the third quarter, consultancy Energy Aspects has forecast, the first shortfall it has estimated since the third quarter of 2025, when it was a marginal 6,000 bpd.
'Due to the protracted supply disruption in the Middle East, we expect fuel oil supply to remain critically tight in the third quarter,' Rystad analyst Valerie Panopio told Reuters.
Fuel oil joins gasoline, diesel and jet fuel among the refined products struggling to keep up with demand.
A shortage of fuel oil used in ships and power plants looms in the third quarter as refiners increasingly squeezed by wars that have disrupted both crude processing and tanker traffic prioritise output of diesel and other products at its expense.
While crude oil has avoided major price spikes in recent months, refined product prices have soared as strikes damage refineries in Russia and the Middle East and curbs on ship traffic choke flows.
China has also cut refining capacity and exports to avoid burning stocks.
Tightening supply threatens to further raise costs for shipowners and power generators already dealing with war-related disruptions. Higher bunker fuel costs could also in turn feed into shipping rates.
Asia will be hardest-hit as it is most reliant on Gulf flows disrupted by the Iran War, with Singapore, the world's largest bunker hub, importing more than half its nearly 1 million barrels a day of demand, according to import data from Kpler.
Consultancy Rystad has a similar outlook.The deficit is expected to hit 218,000 barrels per day in the third quarter, consultancy Energy Aspects has forecast, the first shortfall it has estimated since the third quarter of 2025, when it was a marginal 6,000 bpd.
'Due to the protracted supply disruption in the Middle East, we expect fuel oil supply to remain critically tight in the third quarter,' Rystad analyst Valerie Panopio told Reuters.
Fuel oil joins gasoline, diesel and jet fuel among the refined products struggling to keep up with demand.