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EIA pencils Brent at $89 by Q4 2026

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The EIA's 12 May Short-Term Energy Outlook projected Brent at roughly $106 per barrel in Q2 2026, decaying to $89 per barrel by Q4 on the assumption Hormuz partially normalises.

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Key takeaway

The Q2-to-Q4 Brent decay is a $17 calendar trade contingent on Hormuz normalisation no print yet confirms.

The EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook published 12 May 2026 projected Brent at approximately $106 per barrel for Q2 2026, declining to $89 per barrel by Q4 2026⁠¹. The forecast implies a $17 per barrel negative carry for anyone buying Q2 forward for Q4 delivery on the assumption Hormuz physically normalises. EIA also tagged the 2026 global supply deficit at 2.6 million barrels per day and a Q2 inventory draw rate of 8.5 million barrels per day, the highest in STEO history.

The IEA's May Oil Market Report logged the same pattern from the inventory side. Global observed inventory draws ran 246 million barrels across March and April 2026 (129 million barrels in March plus 117 million barrels in April), and 2Q26 crude throughputs were projected to decline 4.5 million barrels per day to 78.7 million barrels per day⁠². Russian crude exports rose in April as Ukrainian refinery strikes cut domestic consumption, freeing barrels for export.

The IEA also noted that North Sea Dated traded in an unparalleled $50 per barrel intramonth range in April, the strongest signal that flat price has become an unreliable trading anchor for the current market environment. Both agencies are running the same conditional bet: Hormuz transit clears through Q3, OPEC+ production unwinds materialise, and inventory rebuilds happen in Q4. None of those conditions has been tested yet, and Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on 12 May that the global oil market will not normalise until 2027 if the Hormuz blockade runs.

The shape of the curve carries the risk. Goldman Sachs has Q4 Brent at $90 per barrel on tighter Gulf output, broadly aligned with EIA, but the path from $106 to $89 assumes a clean normalisation that the EFS and freight prints currently dispute. Anyone trading the negative carry is exposed to the same Hormuz timing question driving the speculator positioning, just packaged as a calendar trade.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Fujairah, in the UAE, is one of the world's biggest fuel stops for oil tankers. Ships fill up with bunker fuel (a type of heavy oil) there before crossing the ocean. In May 2026, Fujairah's storage tanks hit their lowest total inventory reading on record at 6.5 million barrels. Hormuz disruption explains most of the draw. Many tankers have been rerouting around Africa instead of through the strait of Hormuz. That longer route burns more fuel, and the combined effect has drained Fujairah's bunker supply faster than it can be replenished.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Two simultaneous forces drove Fujairah's May 2026 record-low 6.5mb inventory. Hormuz disruption from late February 2026 reduced inbound crude and product flows from Gulf producers, cutting the replenishment rate for Fujairah's bunker storage tanks. At the same time, VLCC Cape rerouting paradoxically increased total marine fuel consumption globally, tightening the regional bunker fuel pool that Fujairah would normally absorb.

The residual fuel oil draw (down 27% in May versus April, below 3 million barrels) reflects that high-sulphur bunker fuel, still the primary fuel for older VLCCs, is being consumed at abnormally high rates by longer Cape voyages while replenishment logistics from Gulf refineries remain disrupted.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Fujairah VLSFO prompt bunker premiums versus Rotterdam widened to $25-40/tonne in May 2026 as record-low inventory cut the regional supply buffer for vessel operators on Cape rerouting.
Immediate · 0.75
Risk
If Singapore IES weekly stocks are also drawing (not confirmed in this window), the Asia bunker market's aggregate tightness exceeds what Fujairah data alone implies, with potential for a prompt allocation squeeze.
Short term · 0.6
Consequence
Global shipping freight costs face a structural floor from elevated marine fuel costs even after Hormuz physically clears, as vessel operator risk premium on Gulf routings persists for weeks post-reopening.
Medium term · 0.65

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: Singapore's weekly petroleum stocks hitting an 11-year low in August 2008 provides the structural parallel for an Asian bunkering hub running dangerously low. In the 2008 case, the draw coincided with peak-cycle refinery margins and a supply-side squeeze; Singapore recovered when the financial crisis broke demand in Q4 2008.

The Fujairah 2026 draw differs in that it is geographically driven (Hormuz disruption) rather than demand-driven, but the mechanism, a bunkering hub's buffer falling below operational minimum, is structurally identical.

Counter-parallel: May 2020 saw Fujairah's total inventories spike to a record high of approximately 26 million barrels as vessels avoiding Yemen Houthi activity sheltered in Fujairah and used it as floating storage. The 2020 lesson: Fujairah inventories are highly path-dependent on routing decisions rather than underlying demand alone, which is why the 6.5mb low must be interpreted against the backdrop of vessel routing rather than pure demand figures.

Fujairah bunker prices for VLSFO (very low sulphur fuel oil) tracked the inventory draw, widening relative to Rotterdam spot bunker prices. The Fujairah-Rotterdam VLSFO spread (normally $5-15/tonne) widened to the $25-40/tonne range in May as prompt supply constraints pushed regional premiums higher.

For a VLCC operator on a Cape rerouting with a 270kt cargo, the incremental bunker cost per voyage (an additional 1,000-1,400 tonnes of fuel at elevated Fujairah prices) adds $0.3-0.5m per voyage on top of the lengthened voyage time cost.

For the Asia-Pacific bunker market more broadly, Fujairah's draw compresses the regional supply buffer for VLSFO and MGO. If Singapore IES stocks (not yet confirmed in this window) are tracking a similar draw, the Asia bunker tightness thesis gains structural weight.

Consensus view: S&P Global's Sara Vakhshouri, covering Gulf and Fujairah bunker markets, notes that the 6.5mb total inventory reading puts Fujairah below the operational buffer threshold for a major bunkering hub.

With approximately 50 VLCCs rerouted around Cape of Good Hope since February 2026, each burning roughly 1,000-1,400 additional tonnes of bunker per trip, the incremental marine distillate demand persists structurally until Hormuz physical passage normalises, rather than resolving with the season.

Counter-view: Kpler analyst Viktor Katona points to the counterpart data: AIS tracking of vessels calling Fujairah shows a 30-35% reduction in total vessel calls since late February, as Cape rerouting bypasses Fujairah entirely. The record-low inventory reading is partly an accounting effect: vessel calls at Fujairah dropped 30-35%, so supply and demand both departed simultaneously. Fujairah inventories may stay low even when supply resumes if vessel routing patterns normalise slowly.

Key tension: Whether Fujairah's inventory draw reflects genuine Asia-Pacific bunker demand pressure or primarily reflects the traffic-reduction effect of Cape rerouting that simultaneously removes both supply and demand from Fujairah's figures.

First Reported In

Update #1 · GL 134B out, Rotterdam dark, OPEC+ pending

Kyiv School of Economics· 18 May 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Brent-Dubai EFS over $6, TD3C at WS458

Brent-Dubai EFS above $6/bbl and Hormuz transit restrictions forced VLCCs to reroute via Cape of Good Hope, contributing ~50,000-70,000 tonnes incremental bunker demand that compounded Fujairah record-low inventories

Occurred 11 May 2026

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This Event

EIA pencils Brent at $89 by Q4 2026

The official forecasts imply $17 per barrel of negative carry for anyone buying Q2 forward for Q4 delivery, and the IEA logged the second-largest two-month inventory draw on record while the assumption is being tested.

Led to

US draws 7.9mb, Fujairah rebuilds 96kbd

The record-low 6.5mb Fujairah reading was the trough from which the +96kbd rebuild to 6.593mb in the week to 18 May represents the first recovery in ten weeks.

Occurred 15 May 2026

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Different Perspectives

Bulgarian government

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Radoslaw Sikorski

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Andy Burnham

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Ministry of External Affairs (India)

India's foreign ministry said after the 16 September House vote that New Delhi would take all necessary measures to protect its trade.

European Council

EU leaders on 15-16 October rejected a US idea to hand Washington the roughly €200bn of frozen Russian assets held in Europe, and Kaja Kallas said the decision belongs to Europeans. The same summit put off a decision on financing Ukraine, saying leaders "will revert to the issue in a timely manner".

Donald Trump

Trump signed the 16 October order that sets the Graham Act's duties and waives them under section 115(a), with a certification sent to Congress. He says the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, and on 11 October he said both sides had agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.