Israel-Iran conflict generates big movement in energy market
June 16, 2025
The Baker Hughes Rig Count called oil rigs down 3 to a total of 439 oil rigs in operation. Last year at this time there were 488 oil rigs in operation.
Energy prices had a big rally on Friday as the news of Israel attacking Iran was the hot news item. That news stirred the pot of the Middle East and made traders cover their risk for the weekend with tons of uncertainty of what might happen next. Prices were up big on the day with WTI crude oil up over $5 dollar per barrel, Gasoline futures up over $0.10 per gallon, and diesel futures up over $0.20 per gallon. WTI crude oil in the past month has had a range of $53 to $77, which is a $24 range, crazy. This leaves WTI crude oil wide open for a volatile move in either direction.
The ”experts” say that Israel has limited ability to do much more military damage in Iran than they already have done. This means that all this should quiet down a touch. On Iran’s side they do have ballistic missile but not much to put on top of them, so their best bet is a proxy war which they are already fighting. Iran did withdraw/cancel the nuclear negotiation with the US, so all this is not over yet.
The comments above were written on Friday and still are a good assessment but over the weekend more attacks took place on both sides and added to more confusion. Over the weekend there were reports that Isreal had attached and their targets were key energy infrastructure. Some key sites were hit and prices rallied higher but have since pulled back. Energy prices have seen a big two-day rally and have now pulled back off the highs and are likely waiting to see if prodctuion or supplies are impacted or what happens next.