{"id":43505,"date":"2026-03-27T10:43:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T10:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/43505\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T10:43:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T10:43:44","slug":"amid-disputed-us-iran-ceasefire-signals-wti-and-brent-swing-near-100-rising-about-2-after-volatility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/43505\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid disputed US-Iran ceasefire signals, WTI and Brent swing near $100, rising about 2% after volatility"},"content":{"rendered":"NYMEX WTI and ICE Brent rose by about 2% after sharp swings around $100 a barrel, as markets reacted to conflicting signals on a possible US\u2011Iran ceasefire. Middle East disruptions have kept European gas prices high and tightened seaborne crude flows to Asia.\n\nUS crude inventories continued to rise, with EIA data showing stocks up 6.9m barrels last week, the fifth straight build. Total crude stocks reached 456.2m barrels, the highest since June 2024.\n\n

Inventory Builds Versus Geopolitical Risk<\/h3>\nCushing inventories increased by 3.4m barrels to 30.9m barrels, the biggest weekly gain since January 2023. Crude imports fell to 6.5m b\/d, while exports dropped to 3.3m b\/d, the lowest since November 2025.\n\nProduct data were mixed, with gasoline inventories down 2.6m barrels and distillate stocks up 3m barrels. Refinery utilisation rose by 1.5pp week on week to 92.9%.\n\nSaudi Aramco is reported to supply about 40m barrels to China in April and around 23m barrels to India, slightly below last month. Disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have led to rerouting via the Yanbu pipeline on the Red Sea, where export capacity is around 5m bbls\/d.\n\nWe are seeing a classic battle between bearish fundamentals and bullish geopolitical risk, keeping oil prices volatile around the $100 mark. This suggests that buying options to play swings in either direction, such as through straddles, could be more prudent than taking a simple directional bet. The market is waiting for a clear signal to break out of this range.\n\n

Key Catalysts To Watch<\/h3>\nThe primary trigger for a major price move remains the US-Iran ceasefire talks, which appear to have stalled again according to the latest reports from Vienna. We should position ourselves for a sharp drop below $95 on any credible de-escalation news, or a push toward $110 if the conflict intensifies. Until then, uncertainty will fuel this choppy price action.\n\nThe build in US inventories is a significant headwind for prices, with the latest EIA report showing domestic crude stocks are now 8% above the five-year average for this time of year. The sharp drop in exports to levels we last saw in November 2025 confirms that barrels are getting trapped stateside. This inventory surplus puts a cap on any sustained rally in WTI.\n\nWhile gasoline demand appears seasonally healthy, the surprise build in distillates is a warning sign about underlying economic activity. Forward curves for diesel futures have recently flipped into a slight contango, signaling expectations of near-term oversupply. We see this as a bearish indicator for broader global growth.\n\nThe disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz are creating a clear divide in the market, making seaborne crude more expensive for Asian buyers. This is reflected in the Brent-WTI spread, which has widened to over $7 this week, its largest gap in months. This logistical bottleneck supports trades that favor Brent over WTI.\n\nCreate your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oil prices rose 2% amid Iran ceasefire uncertainty, even as US inventories and Cushing stocks surged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}