Oil news this week has been a mixed bag, but it seems bullish developments have prevailed. Sanctions on Iran are one of the leading reasons for the recovery in oil prices. Another is a forecast from the International Energy Agency that expects oil supply growth this year to be weaker than previously predicted.
West Texas Intermediate advanced 0.4% to settle just below $70 a barrel, continuing a three-week rally. A US government report on Wednesday showed the country’s stockpiles shrank by 3.34 million barrels last week to the lowest in a month, helping allay concerns of an oversupplied market.
Crude oil prices earlier today touched a three-week high, driven by the latest U.S. oil inventory report by the American Petroleum Institute and expectations of tighter supply on Washington’s double-down on oil sanctions against Iran and Venezuela.
Brent crude was trading at $73.13 per barrel at the time of writing, with West Texas Intermediate at $69.12 per barrel, after the American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday that oil inventories in the county had fallen by 4.6 million barrels in the week to March 21. This was a bigger than expected draw, with expectations being for a draw of 2.5 million barrels. Inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration are due out later today.
The U.S. Treasury announced the sanctions on Thursday, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying that “The Iranian regime continues to use the proceeds from the nation’s vast oil resources to advance its narrow, alarming self-interests at the expense of the Iranian people. Treasury will fight and disrupt any attempts by the regime to fund its destabilizing activities and further its dangerous agenda.”
A peace deal in the Ukraine could lead to the lifting of Western sanctions on Russia, which would in turn boost the availability of Russian oil supply internationally—but only theoretically. The European Union has signaled on a regular basis over the past three years it is willing to keep squeezing Russian energy as much as it possibly could and it’s quite likely the squeeze will continue even after a peace deal is signed—if that happens.
OPEC+ has extended its production cuts totaling 3.66 million bpd until 2025.
Further production cuts by OPEC+ could impact global oil prices and economic stability, particularly affecting China and the U.S.
Prominent OPEC countries may be reluctant to risk lower oil prices, as doing so could jeopardize the budgets for their ambitious national spending programs.
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell again this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday.
Africa-focused producer has increased access to oil price upside for the remainder of this year and next, it said in trading update
The facility will be available to draw for 18 months and proceeds will be used for liability management of Tullow’s senior notes maturing in March 2025. The interest on the facility will be Term Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) plus 10% on drawn amounts.
Last week, oil prices logged a third straight weekly decline, sinking to the lowest level since mid-July as concerns about demand continue to replace the fear of production outages related to the Middle East conflict. Front-month Nymex crude for December delivery rose 1.9% Friday but settled -4.1% for the week to $77.17/bbl, while January Brent crude recorded a similar weekly decline to $81.43/bbl. December gasoline was down -0.5% for the week to $2.19/gal while December diesel fell -6.2% to $2.74/gal.