Oil Price Weekly Roundup

Oil markets extended their decline on Friday, with crude prices falling sharply after U.S. President Donald Trump said a peace agreement with Iran was close and canceled previously threatened military strikes. Brent crude slipped below $90 per barrel, trading around $88–$89, while WTI fell to roughly $85–$87, as traders priced in the possibility of de-escalation in the Middle East and a potential reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The decline allowed motorists to enjoy some reprieve at the pump, with national average gas prices falling…

Jamaica may be following in the footsteps of its Caribbean neighbours, such as Guyana, as it plans to drill for oil, despite being highly vulnerable to climate change. In recent years, Caribbean oil exploration has boomed, following successful drilling in Guyana and Suriname. But, at a time when the International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling for an end to exploration, will Jamaica pursue a future in fossil fuels? At present, Jamaica imports all its fuel, spending between $1.5 and $2 billion a year on energy imports. However, successful findings…

The UK has finally put a date on the sanctions loophole it said it would close a while ago. The British government said Friday that imports of diesel and jet fuel refined from Russian crude in third countries will be banned no later than January 1, 2027, closing one of the remaining routes by which Russian oil products can still find their way into the UK market. The move builds on sanctions announced in May that prohibit the import of refined oil made from Russian crude, even if that refining occurred outside Russia. At the time, however, London…

Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly creating a strategic alliance of convenience that US policymakers must confront as it seeks to disrupt global order, according to a group of US experts and former officials. Speaking on June 10 at the “America’s Adversaries: The Russia Reality” national security briefing organized by the Independent Women’s Forum, many of the panelists noted that the transactional benefits are already yielding critical strategic dividends, particularly for an otherwise isolated Iranian regime. Driven by their shared opposition…

Consumers are battling higher energy bills worldwide due to rising inflation and greater price volatility of oil and gas, driven by significant restrictions on energy trade through the Strait of Hormuz in recent months. This has prompted a surge in interest in household solar systems, as consumers look to produce their own clean, affordable power. Consumer interest in battery installations is also growing as battery prices decrease and people become increasingly aware of the potential for 24-hour clean power. Australia is one of the countries pioneering…

Three and a half months after the blocked Strait of Hormuz created the worst oil supply disruption in history, oil prices remain below $100 per barrel amid hopes of an imminent U.S.-Iran deal. It’s not only hopes that have been keeping prices much lower than a sudden disappearance of 13 million barrels per day (bpd) of supply would warrant. The market has had major buffers to rely on. China, the world’s top crude importer, slashed imports to multi-year lows, while the U.S. boosted its crude exports to a record high. Strategic releases…

China is working toward a major nuclear fusion milestone that will put it leagues ahead in the global race to unlock the ‘holy grail’ of clean energy. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is reportedly on track to achieve ignition in 2027, potentially making the tokamak the first nuclear fusion reactor in the world to sustain plasma without external heating sources. This would be a critical milestone toward enabling commercial nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is the process that powers our own sun. It’s many…

Ahead of the SpaceX IPO, Rothschild & Co Redburn analyst Tony Jones published a note on space propellant economics and identified an industrial-gases giant that is well positioned to dominate the market for rocket propellants and mission-critical launch gases as SpaceX’s Starship launch cadence gains momentum and the broader space economy is set to double by 2035. Jones and his team reiterated their “Buy” rating on Linde and raised their 12-month price target to $560 from $550, telling clients on Wednesday that the company has built a deep…

The United States and Uzbekistan are working to expand business-to-business contacts with the aim of expanding US trade and investment in some key economic sectors, including mining, energy, IT, agriculture, and artificial intelligence. US Assistant Secretary of Commerce David Fogel signed a memorandum of understanding with Laziz Kudratov, the Uzbek minister of investment, on June 9 in Tashkent, outlining plans to facilitate business delegation visits and promote investment opportunities. “The MOU is structured around actionable economic…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 563, up 1 from this same time last year. The number of active oil rigs rose by 2 for the second week in a row to 433 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 6 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 3 to 121, which is 8 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig stayed the same at 8. The latest…

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright just gave the market a number that helps explain why Brent crude isn’t trading at $150 per barrel. Speaking at a Bloomberg Energy event in Houston on Friday, Wright said the U.S. military is now helping move roughly 7 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil out of the Persian Gulf. According to Wright, that’s about half of the oil that remains stranded following the disruption of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz during the ongoing U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. The figure is significant because normal…

Oil prices slid to a two-month low as conflicting signals from Washington and Tehran fueled uncertainty over a potential U.S.-Iran deal, keeping traders on edge throughout a volatile week. Friday, June 12, 2026 In a particularly volatile trading week, the allocation of roles between Iran and the United States seemed to have switched constantly. If an impending deal was announced by US President Trump, Tehran would deny it, and reversely if the Iranian leadership broke the media silence with talks of a breakthrough, Trump would castigate them for…

European buyers aren’t committing to long-term LNG supply agreements with U.S. exporters despite the ongoing EU phase-out of Russian gas imports and the supply crisis in the Middle East. U.S. developers and proponents of new LNG export facilities in America have been trying to lock in long-term supply deals with European importers, with little success so far this year, U.S. executives have told Bloomberg. The Europeans are interested in discussions, but not really committing to long-term supply deals, according to the American LNG exporters.…

Nigeria’s crude oil output jumped to a 15-month high in May as Africa’s top producer continues to ramp up production, data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed. Nigeria pumped 1.53 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude last month, the highest level since January 2025, as the African country now produces at its ceiling per the OPEC+ group’s agreements, after years of failing to do so due to sabotage, oil theft, and oil spills. Nigeria actually produced 102% of its OPEC+ quota of…

US President Donald Trump ‌has claimed that a “great settlement” has been reached with Iran to end the Middle East war and that the agreement could be signed as early as this weekend, possibly in Europe. “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 11. He added, though, that the agreement is still “subject to finalization of documents, which should get done, over the next few days, probably have a signing, maybe in Europe.” Asked by reporters if Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei…

The Trans Mountain pipeline has reached full capacity for the first time since its expansion was completed, boosting the pipe’s total carrying capability to 890,000 barrels daily. Indeed, this month the pipeline has seen more demand than there is capacity, a senior executive at the same-name company said, as quoted by Reuters. The expansion of the Trans Mountain infrastructure has been crucial for Canadian oil producers’ output plans, which have focused on responding to higher demand for oil, especially from Asia and especially from…

SLB has signed a long-term contract with Venezuela’s PDVSA to reverse a major decline in oil production and modernize the country’s oil industry. “Venezuela’s oil and gas sector has substantial resource potential, and realising that potential will require technology, digital integration and long-term talent development,” SLB chief executive Olivier Le Peuch said in a company statement this week. The focus of the modernization push would be artificial intelligence, the statement also said, aiming to digitally transform Venezuela’s…

Crude oil production among members of OPEC has this year collapsed to a generational low, at just 16.13 million barrels daily, Reuters reported, citing a regular survey it conducts on OPEC production. The amount is the lowest since 2000, the publication noted. The May average is also lower than OPEC production at the height of the Covid lockdowns, when the reduction was prompted by the collapse in demand as a result of the lockdowns. It is worth noting, however, that the May OPEC figure excludes the UAE, which left the group as of the first of…

Oil prices surged again in early Asian trade on Thursday after Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed following a fresh round of U.S. strikes on the country. At the time of writing, Brent crude had climbed 2.26% to trade at $95.20 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate had risen 2.5% to $92.30 per barrel. Both benchmarks have seen extreme volatility this week as outbreaks of attacks are quickly followed by claims of an imminent deal being signed. The latest escalation started with the downing of a U.S. Apache helicopter near the Strait…

We live in a dangerously synthetic world. Scalper-style traders reportedly generated significant profits on suspiciously timed oil trades surrounding Iran war developments in Q2. AI-generated content is creating new verification challenges. Fake news about an attack on Saudi oil facilities, for instance, could contribute to crude price volatility. It’s a dangerous, unsustainable, AI-generated environment that rewards whoever gets information first, whether it’s real or not. Now, it’s time to level the playing field, turning AI…