Crude oil prices were on course to book a sharp weekly gain, with Brent crude on track for gains of about $6 per barrel and WTI registering a much more modest tick higher, from around $99 per barrel on Monday to over $100 earlier today. At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $114.00 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was changing hands for $100.40 per barrel, as hostilities in the Middle East remain front-page news for oil traders. The focus, however, seems to be on Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure, including Aramco facilities.…
The Chinese market remains the largest one in terms of seaborne crude oil imports, after the first eight months of 2026. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “after a marginal decline in 2024, when global crude oil loadings decreased by -0.2% y-o-y, things picked up in 2025, with full-year volumes increasing ...
For the first four months of the war between the United States and Israel and Iran, oil traders remained largely bearish. The overwhelming expectation was that the war would end soon—even as July rolled around—and oil flows out of Hormuz would recover. Instead, the world is slipping into a fuel shortage, and traders have gone bullish. They are especially bullish on fuels in the United States, it seems. The world’s biggest crude oil consumer and the biggest exporter of crude and fuels has not managed to avoid a supply squeeze at…
U.S. sanctions pressure on Iran intensifies, but Pakistani mediation hopes push Brent back to $89. US Blockade Leaves Iran’s Oil Trade on Borrowed Time - The announcement of the Trump administration’s ‘Economic D-Day’ sanctions on Iran coincides with an overall slump in Tehran’s crude exports, choked off by the US Navy’s maritime blockade in the Gulf of Oman. - Iran’s August crude exports have so far been minimal compared to the 2025 average of 1.7 million b/d, averaging only slightly around 0.3 million…
China on Tuesday signaled it would not end its ties and trade relations with Iran following the U.S. sanctions unveiled on Monday that target Chinese and Hong Kong entities for helping Iran do business. On Monday, the U.S. Administration announced a series of new sanctions against individuals and entities linked with Iranian trade and economy, including the shipping and oil industry. However, “Operation Economic Outcast,” launched by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, stopped short of sanctioning any Chinese banks. The oil trade remains…
