Market Commentary

The weekend ceasefire talks ended without a deal, and President Trump announced a blockade of all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that any military vessel attempting to approach the Strait of Hormuz will be considered a violation of the two-week ceasefire and be dealt with […]

John Kemp reports that North Sea Forties crude prices closed at a record $147 per barrel on April 9. Forties is one of the principal streams in the Brent complex, and prices have doubled since before the war between the United States and Iran broke out. A JPMorgan research note […]

After yesterday’s huge sell-off prices are up today as there is a lot of uneasiness about the ceasefire. There is also confusion about whether the Strait of Hormuz is open or not and all this supports prices.  Israel has continued its fighting with Hezbollah in Lebanon as they say the […]

There is plenty of chatter in the news this morning that is affecting the energy market. President Trump threatened Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz again or face bombing of power plants and water desalination plants. Crude is currently trading lower this morning after Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced that […]

The energy markets are closed tomorrow 4-3-2026 for Good Friday. So, there are no forward contracts tomorrow. Here is the DOE inventory data but at this point I am not sure this has an enormous impact on the markets as President Trump’s speech, and the conflict tin Iran are front […]

The risk of protracted war with Iran grew on Saturday as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched their first attacks on Israel since the start of the conflict, even as additional US forces reached the Middle East. The Houthis said they would continue their operations until the aggression on all fronts ended. […]

It appears a quick resolution to this war in Iran is not going to happen. There are signs that some oil tankers are getting through the Strait of Hormuz, with a Thailand and Malaysia oil tanker allowed through, and Iran is receptive to oil being sent to Spain. However, the Strait […]

The API called crude oil supplies up 2.35 million barrels, gasoline supplies up 528,000 barrels, and distillates up 1.39 million barrels. There were reports last night that Israel has announced a 30-day ceasefire. Is this true? The market last night initially pulled back on crude oil, but overnight the selling […]

Crude prices rose over the weekend as President Trump said on Saturday that Iran had just 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or major power plants within Iran would be targeted. Iran responded with threats to attack energy infrastructure in the Gulf area if the US and Israel […]

US Secretary, Scott Bessent, said the US may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices. He said it is about 140 million barrels of oil. Axios reported that the Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade […]

The DOE inventory report had crude stocks up 6.16 million barrels, gasoline supplies were down 5.44 million barrels, and distillate were down 2.53. million barrels. Total crude stocks are now at 449.259 million and last year at this time they were 436.968 and the three-year average is 454.397. Total gasoline […]

Late yesterday, the US issued a new general license related to Russia that allows the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded onto vessels through April 11. Russia said this will affect about 100 million barrels of Russian oil. This news has helped pull prices back off their […]