Why $100 Oil Is Hard to Kill

Brent Crude oil prices have held above $100 per barrel for most of the past month despite numerous reports and figures put out in recent weeks by tanker-tracking services and investment banks that crude oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz have recovered, and even exceeded, pre-war levels. But if so much crude is leaving the Middle East again, why do Brent prices continue to hover around the $100 a barrel mark, up from $60 before the war The Perfect Storm Because crude oil flows returning to pre-war levels does not mean that the market has returned to normal. Far from it. The price of getting the oil out of the Middle East is astronomically high, with freight rates at record highs. War risk premiums have jumped as tankers continue to be attacked in the Strait of Hormuz.