Skip to content
You can now search across every topic, entity and event.What's new
Iran Conflict 2026
4JUN

Brent recovers to $93.91 on deal delay

3 min read
11:25UTC

Brent crude opened Monday at $93.91, up 3.06%, holding above last week's floor and keeping its forward curve above spot, the market's verdict that the unsigned weekend was a delay rather than a rupture.

ConflictAssessed
Key takeaway

Brent's forward curve sits above spot, pricing sub-$100 oil as a temporary deal premium, not a new floor.

Brent Crude opened Monday 1 June at $93.91, up 3.06% from Friday's $91.12 close 1. Brent is the global oil benchmark against which most of the world's crude is priced, and its level encodes how seriously traders rate the risk that the strait of Hormuz closes. Monday's move recovered part of last week's losses without breaking either way: no collapse toward $90, no deal-failure surge toward $110.

The price held above the $92.05 floor set on 29 May , the bottom of a sell-off that ranked as Brent's worst monthly fall since the Covid shock. Holding that floor tells you the market read the unsigned weekend as a delay, not a rupture, the same reading that pulled Brent below $100 in late May as diplomatic optimism built .

The signal worth reading sits in the shape of the curve, not the spot price. The 12-month forward near $105 still sits above spot, which means traders are paying more for oil a year out than for oil today. That inversion prices sub-$100 Brent as a temporary deal premium, the discount the market awards while a settlement looks likely, rather than a new structural level. If the talks collapse, the premium unwinds and spot chases the forward upward; for now the curve says the deal is late, not dead.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Oil traders pushed Brent crude to $93.91 a barrel on 1 June, a 3% jump from Friday's close. Oil had been falling for weeks as traders hoped a US-Iran deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, but no deal arrived over the weekend. Futures contracts for oil a year from now price at around $105, roughly $11 above today's spot price. That $11 gap represents the market's estimate of the economic cost of the current blockade: traders are still pricing in an eventual reopening.

What could happen next?
  • Opportunity

    The $11-13 spread between spot and 12-month forward Brent means any credible deal announcement would produce an immediate oil-price fall that delivers significant household cost relief across Europe and Asia.

  • Risk

    If the 2 June House vote on SJ Res 59 passes, oil traders may interpret it as signalling an imminent end to the US blockade regardless of the Iran deal status, triggering a Brent sell-off that would undercut US leverage in the MOU negotiations.

First Reported In

Update #114 · Two parliaments, one war neither can govern

Trading Economics· 1 Jun 2026
Read original
Different Perspectives
China's foreign ministry
China's foreign ministry
Spokesman Lin Jian rejected Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's 25 August warning that Iranian oil buyers face an "economic D-Day", saying sanctions do not help and that Beijing would safeguard its own rights and interests. China's Iranian crude imports had already halved for unrelated reasons.
Iraq's government and Erbil authorities
Iraq's government and Erbil authorities
Erbil authorities said 10 explosive-laden drones were shot down over the city on 1-2 September with no casualties. Iraq's government condemned the attacks without naming Iran as their source, and neither Washington nor Baghdad confirmed the IRGC's claim to have hit US bases there.
Bahrain Defence Force
Bahrain Defence Force
The General Command said air defences intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones on 1-2 September and called the use of such weapons against civilians and private property a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Kuwait's Fire Force and foreign ministry
Kuwait's Fire Force and foreign ministry
KUNA reported a hostile Iranian drone struck a residential complex in Kuwait City on 2 September; Fire Force spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Al-Gharib said losses were confined to property. Kuwait's foreign ministry called the attack a clear breach of its sovereignty.
Jordan's Armed Forces
Jordan's Armed Forces
Petra carried a statement that air defences intercepted eight missiles violating Jordanian airspace early on 31 August and 10 of 13 fired on 1 September. The statement named no target and did not address the IRGC's claim to have struck Camp Titin and killed US personnel.
CENTCOM
CENTCOM
CENTCOM's 1 September target list named IRGC air defence, radar, maritime and mine-laying sites in Iran but no tanker, after Axios reported anonymous officials describing a Trump-approved "tanker for tanker" drone policy. A CENTCOM spokesman declined to confirm the policy and referred questions to policymakers.