As Dated Brent crosses $100, a $120 price point is likely

A Brent oil benchmark soared past the barrier of US $100 on Tuesday, as tensions between Russia and Ukraine escalated after Moscow ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.

Dated Brent, the price of cargoes bought and sold in the North Sea, reached $100.80 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2014, according to S&P Global Platts.

The price was up $3.14/barrel day on day, amid continued demand for light sweet crude and ongoing uncertainty surrounding a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, S&P Global said.

This is the highest the benchmark has been assessed since September 4, 2014, when it was assessed at $101.195/b.

Dated Brent’s daily price assessment is at the centre of complex oil derivatives and also sets a baseline against which millions of barrels of crude are transacted daily, with price spreads in the futures market pointing to one the tightest markets ever.

According to energy analyst John Driscoll, the price of crude could even touch $150 in the near future.

“Given that you’ve got an underinvestment in capital exploration, we’re running low on physical oil, we’re running short of supply,” Driscoll, director of JTD Energy Services, told CNBC on Monday. “There is a scenario where we could vault past $120, even as high as $150” a barrel, he said.

Editor's note: The headline of this article has been changes on February 23rd to reflect the type of Brent.