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Brent fell to about $91 in late May 2026, down roughly 19 per cent on the month on optimism over a ‘largely negotiated’ deal. The deflation from the $126 peak separates two risks that were previously bundled: about $35 of war-and-blockade premium has left, while roughly $20 a barrel of institutional premium stays. That residual — about $2 billion a day — is the price of the institutional gap, now visible directly in the crude strip.

Brent rose about 3.8 per cent on 4 May 2026 after the Project Freedom announcement and an Iranian missile claim, after pulling toward $108 earlier in the week on peace-proposal hopes. Earlier posts have documented the chokepoint risk premium as a level. This post documents it as a volatility — a directly priced cost in hedging premia, surcharge widths, insurance loadings, and rate-case adjustments that accrues every day the institutional state of the chokepoint is undefined.

Brent touched $126 overnight on April 30 — highest since 2022 — before pulling back to about $114. Both halves of the move are informative. The spike priced an option that the Iranian new-chapter announcement and the US blockade extension might converge into further escalation; the pullback un-priced part of that option as the news cycle settled. The chokepoint risk premium is now the marginal component of global crude price.

Brent closed at $118 and WTI at $107 on April 29 after Trump said the US blockade of Iran will continue until a nuclear deal. US gasoline is forecast at $4.30/gal for the month. Walking a single gallon back to the tanker shows the chokepoint fee is small. The chokepoint risk is what is doing the work in your fill-up.