MARKET NEWS

(Bloomberg) -- The world’s most important price for real-world oil barrels soared to a record, the latest evidence of global crude markets that are pricing increasingly scarce supply in the wake of the Iran war.

Dated Brent, which helps value most of the world’s oil transactions, hit $144.42 a barrel on Tuesday, the highest since Platts, a unit of S&P Global Energy first began publishing the measure back in 1987. The benchmark is based on a more immediate delivery period than Brent futures — which were trading near $109 on Tuesday — an indication of a clamor to secure barrels for delivery as soon as possible.

Buyers are “paying an exceptional premium for secure, refinery-usable Atlantic Basin barrels available now,” Morgan Stanley analysts including Martijn Rats wrote in a note. “Once Asia began bidding away Atlantic Basin replacement barrels, stress started to migrate into the Brent system.”

Across the oil and fuel markets, cargoes for more-immediate supply are commanding ever-growing premiums, an indication of just how tight they’re becoming. While futures are ultimately anchored to physical prices, they also take into account expectations for supply, demand and the economic outlook in later months.

Dated, as it’s known by oil traders, has been propelled higher by the war in Iran as the conflict slashes energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles about a fifth of the world’s oil. Refiners across the globe are rushing to buy whatever barrels they can get as a result of the blockage.

As well as choking off crude, the disruption in Hormuz is also hitting fuel supply, creating huge profit margins from buying and refining oil into products like diesel and jet fuel.

Dated measures the price of shipments bought and sold in the North Sea in the coming weeks. Earlier in the day, the Platts pricing window that helps set the benchmark saw 12 unanswered bids for cargoes and the values of those shipments soared, according to traders monitoring the window.

The surge in Dated reflects “historic market volatility and supply disruptions,” Platts said.