“While inventories globally have built very significantly, stocks in the pricing centres – especially in the US – are still quite low,” Daan Struyven, head of oil research at Goldman Sachs, said on Bloomberg Television. Market focus has shifted to “downside risks to supply,” he said.
Activity is slowing in U.S. oil fields as drillers remain in the crude-price danger zone for profits, according to one of the biggest investors of private operators in the shale patch.
The broad view of the US President Donald Trump’s first administration as exclusively told to OilPrice.com at the time by a senior legal figure in that team was: “We’re not going to put up with any more crap from the Saudis.”
Oil fell as U.S. President Donald Trump reignited his global trade war, while his latest plan to pressure Russia into a ceasefire with Ukraine didn’t include new measures aimed directly at hindering Moscow’s energy exports.
Oil prices are set to end the week higher after geopolitical risk climbed and Trump delayed tariff announcements.
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States slipped again this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, following a 8-rig decrease in the week prior.
West Texas Intermediate advanced almost 3% to settle above $68 a barrel after President Donald Trump said he plans to make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday and reiterated criticism of President Vladimir Putin. One sanctions bill, which at least 85 senators have endorsed, would levy 500% tariffs on China and India if they make any purchases of Russian energy.
The United States and Iran are poised to return to the negotiating table at a moment when tensions between the two are high and trust is low.
The talks were initially planned for July 10 in Oslo, according to RFE/RL’s sources, who now say the meeting has been postponed — likely to next week.
Despite energy trade being one of the focal points of trade negotiations between the U.S. and its partners, the dominant perception about the effect of tariffs on oil prices is negative. Most analysts point to the effect of tariffs on the economy of countries being “punished” with them, and, consequently, on oil demand.
The renewed Red Sea volatility comes as Axios reports that Israeli officials believe Donald Trump would authorize pre-emptive military action against Iran’s nuclear program if he returns to office. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to raise the issue during a closed-door dinner with Trump this week. Tehran has restarted centrifuge operations at key enrichment sites, setting off fresh alarm in Tel Aviv.