Oil Extends Rally as Brent Holds Above $100 and WTI Nears Triple Digits

EnergyNow Morning Oil Price Report

Report Date & Time: September 10, 2026 – 5:30 a.m. MDT – Using Trading View Prices

Summary

• WTI crude is trading at approximately US$97.49 per barrel, up $1.44, or 1.50%, from Wednesday’s official $96.05 settlement. Oil is firmly higher as escalating attacks on Gulf shipping reinforce concerns that Middle East supply disruptions will persist.
• Brent crude is trading at approximately US$102.37 per barrel, up $1.16, or 1.15%, from Wednesday’s $101.21 settlement. Brent is holding decisively above the psychologically important $100 level after Wednesday’s 3.4% surge.
• The fundamental backdrop remains bullish: Hormuz oil flows are far below normal, attacks on tankers and Saudi infrastructure are increasing, and stronger Chinese crude buying is tightening an already constrained physical market.

Latest Oil Prices

At approximately 5:30 a.m. MDT Thursday, WTI was quoted at US$97.49 per barrel, compared with Wednesday’s official $96.05 settlement. That puts the U.S. benchmark $1.44 higher, or approximately 1.50%, extending an extraordinary rally that has lifted crude sharply since early August.

Brent was approximately US$102.37 per barrel, versus Wednesday’s settlement of $101.21, representing an increase of $1.16, or about 1.15%. Reuters independently reported Brent around $102.15 and WTI around $97.50 earlier Thursday morning, confirming the broader direction and magnitude of the move.

The current WTI front month is October 2026, while the Brent front month is November 2026. There is no major contract rollover distortion affecting today’s settlement-to-current comparison.

Why Oil Is Moving

The market’s principal concern remains the U.S.-Iran conflict and its impact on physical oil transportation.

Iran said Wednesday that it attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. forces sank five Iranian oil tankers. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that further U.S. attacks could trigger additional retaliation.

The Strait of Hormuz carried roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies before the conflict, but current oil flows remain far below pre-war levels. Reuters reports that escalating attacks have reduced optimism that tanker traffic can quickly normalize.

Pressure is also spreading beyond Hormuz. Iran-aligned Houthi forces have intensified attacks against Saudi Arabia and taken control of the Yemeni Red Sea city of Mocha, increasing concern over another critical shipping corridor.

Key Market Risks or Catalysts

One increasingly important bullish catalyst is China. Chinese independent refiners are aggressively seeking replacement barrels from Canada, West Africa and South America as Iranian and Russian supplies become more difficult to obtain. Reuters reports purchases of more than 20 million barrels recently, while Canadian heavy crude has attracted additional Chinese interest.

Supply buffers are also shrinking. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates global petroleum inventories have fallen by about 400 million barrels in 2026, while Middle East production shut-ins reached 6.7 million barrels per day in August.

On the downside, sustained $100-plus crude could eventually weaken consumption. Rising gasoline, diesel and transportation costs are already feeding inflation concerns and increasing pressure on global central banks.

Bottom Line

Oil is decisively higher again Thursday morning, with WTI approaching $100 and Brent establishing itself above $102.

The rally is increasingly supported by physical fundamentals rather than geopolitical headlines alone. Reduced Gulf exports, shrinking inventories, tanker attacks and stronger Chinese buying are creating a market with little spare room to absorb another major supply disruption.

The next major threshold is now $100 WTI, while Brent’s ability to remain above $100 will be closely watched as an indication of whether the current geopolitical premium is becoming structurally embedded in crude prices.

Western Canadian Select (WCS)

The latest available Hardisty WCS assessment is approximately US$80.68 per barrel. The closest available comparable WTI observation from the same data provider was US$95.56, producing an indicative WTI-WCS discount of approximately US$14.88 per barrel.

There is a timing mismatch: the WCS source record was timestamped 5:16 a.m. MDT Wednesday, while the comparable WTI observation was timestamped approximately 5:52 a.m. MDT, so the $14.88 differential should be viewed as indicative rather than an exact simultaneous spread.

The previous published WCS price was $79.13, meaning WCS itself increased by approximately $1.55 per barrel. Available public data do not provide a sufficiently synchronized prior-day WTI/WCS pair to calculate a reliable exact day-over-day change in the spread; accordingly, no artificial spread comparison is presented.

Who Watches the WCS Price

Oil sands producers realize WCS-linked prices on unhedged production, and their capital plans key off the differential outlook. US Midwest and Gulf Coast refiners with coking capacity buy WCS as feedstock and treat the differential as their margin opportunity. The Alberta government forecasts royalty and tax revenue directly off WCS — a one-dollar move in the differential is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the provincial budget over a fiscal year. And diluent demand links WCS volumes back to condensate markets.”

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