Oil Market Tightens as Tanker Attacks and Inventory Draws Mount
US Crude Oil Inventories See Massive Drop Off What I Cover Irina Slav has been writing about global energy markets since 2007, covering the oil and gas industry, energy security, commodities, and the… Brent crudeis once again over $106, Iran is intensifying attacks on tankers in Hormuz, and global inventories are draining, while OPEC justforecaststronger demand for next year.
Six months ago, one well-timed TruthSocial post by President Trump would have calmed traders down.
Now, this no longer works as fundamentals trump talk.
Earlier in the war between the United States and Israel, and Iran, U.S.
top officials could push prices lower with a statement about peace talks.
There was even a brief ceasefire in June that pressured prices for weeks, as exports of crude from the Middle East picked up, driving hopes of a swift end to the hostilities.
Then the ceasefire ended and the mutual strikes restarted.
That should have been enough to convince optimists that ending the war would require more than social media posts, but it did not, mostly because Gulf states rushed to find workarounds for their oil—and find them they did, switching to pipelines and ship-to-ship transfers.
That was when the Yemeni Houthis joined the fray, attacking Saudi energy infrastructure.
Even with that escalation and widening of the hostilities, optimism remained dominant on the oil market, on the assumption that things simply would not be allowed to come to a disaster because no one has any interest in that disaster, namely a deep global energy crisis that would plunge economies into recession.
In hindsight, this was the wrong assumption.Related: Novak Calls U.S.
Diesel Deal a 'Positive Signal' for Russia's Economy Despite reports about Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other Gulf producers not only restoring their oil flows to pre-war levels but in some cases even exceeding them, prices have climbed higher relentlessly, and now every dip is from a higher point and more modest than they were three months ago.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
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