U.S. crude oil futures rallied for a seventh consecutive session on Tuesday, April 28, 2026, with West Texas Intermediate jumping more than 3% to settle at $99.93 per barrel and Brent crude climbing nearly 3% to settle at $111.26. Brent traded as high as $111.57 intraday, the highest level since early March. The combined seven-session rally has lifted WTI by roughly $7 per barrel and Brent by more than $9.
The price action reflects a complex mix of cross-currents: hopes that Iran’s formal Hormuz reopening proposal could restore tanker traffic, set against signals from the Trump administration that the proposal is unlikely to be accepted in its current form because it postpones nuclear discussions. President Trump posted on Truth Social Tuesday morning that Iran had informed the U.S. it was in “a State of Collapse” and was eager to see the strait reopened, language widely read as reinforcing his negotiating leverage rather than indicating imminent agreement.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated Tuesday afternoon that the President’s “red lines with respect to Iran have been made very, very clear,” declining to characterize the proposal as actively under consideration. She noted that Trump and his national security team had discussed it on Monday and would communicate any decision directly. Sources familiar with internal deliberations told CNN that Trump was unlikely to accept the proposal as currently framed.
From an oil markets standpoint, the conflict is now in its ninth week, and the persistent closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which in normal times moves roughly 20% of global seaborne oil — has fundamentally repriced the geopolitical risk premium. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan have all noted that the typical correlation between U.S. inventory data and crude prices has weakened materially since the conflict began.
The International Energy Agency this week warned of an “unprecedented supply shock” alongside rising risks of a global demand slowdown driven by elevated energy prices. The IEA flagged spare capacity, OPEC+ pipeline routing, and emergency stockpile policy as the three principal demand-side cushions, with each near or at structural limits.
Refined product markets followed crude higher. Gasoline RBOB futures jumped roughly 5% on the day, ULSD heating oil futures gained more than 4%, and jet fuel posted similar gains. AAA reported the U.S. retail gasoline national average rose to $4.144 per gallon Tuesday, the highest level in nearly four years. For continuous tracking of all energy benchmarks, see our markets dashboard and oil price dashboard.