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Back to square one

Prices are returning to prewar levels, and the Dubai physical premium is the lowest we have ever assessed! Chinese refinery run rates have p
Published: 24 June 2026
Written by:
Will Cunliffe

Will Cunliffe

Research Analyst, The Officials
Will Cunliffe
and
Edward Hayden-Briffett

Edward Hayden-Briffett

Research Analyst, The Officials
Edward Hayden-Briffett
Reviewed by:
Jorge Montepeque

Jorge Montepeque

Head of Benchmarking, The Officials
Jorge Montepeque
Edition: Asia EditionVolume: 3Issue: 118
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Prices are returning to prewar levels, and the Dubai physical premium is the lowest we have ever assessed! Chinese refinery run rates have plunged to extreme lows as coal consumption across Asia is growing.

Brent has fallen to below pre-war! Can you believe it? The cycle has been completed, and the oil industry will find a balance between the need to restock badly depleted crude oil inventories and bottled up oil spilling out of the Gulf. The Americans and the Iranians are working deals out. Please, just don’t focus on the rhetoric. The deals are far more substantial. Oil is coming out and the Iranians are getting paid. Prompt Brent futures declined to under $76 in the European morning, reaching the Asian close at $75.53/bbl. They had surged to over 80 bucks at the open of March trading, but the crude market is seriously deflating. Dubai desperately needs to catch a bid, as the physical premium plummeted to -$1.53! That’s the lowest we’ve ever assessed since starting in June 2024!

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The Officials publish outright values, spreads, cracks and boxes for the main energy commodities traded in the marketplace. The published values are determined independently and on a fair market basis by our team of dedicated professionals.

We invite you to read our reports, which are published twice a day, reflecting closing values at 16:30 Singapore time (SGT) and at 16:30 London time (GMT/BST). For any comments, please reach out to us through the emails provided in the signed documents.

About Asia Edition

Benchmark reports published at the close of the trading day in Singapore.

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