China's crude oil throughput in March dropped 2.2% year-on-year, official data showed on Thursday, as the Iran war curbed refinery runs, while domestic crude output hit a record high.
Oil fell in early trade on prospects of further U.S.-Iran negotiations that could lead to reduced supply disruptions in the Middle East.
Costly repairs in the Middle East point to a slow recovery — a condition that may result in crude prices staying higher for longer.
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating a series of oil futures trades that were placed shortly before major policy shifts by U.S. President Donald Trump related to the war in Iran, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Economists' forecasts from a WSJ survey on the outlook for growth, inflation, oil prices and recession risks following the Iran war.
Commercial crude oil stocks excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were down by 913,000 barrels, the EIA said. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had predicted a 900,000 barrel increase in crude stocks.
Crude prices are mixed after President Donald Trump said the war in Iran is ‘very close to being over'
Oil prices nudged below $95 a barrel and U.S. stock futures were flat in placid early European trade, amid investor optimism around U.S.-Iran peace talks this week.
Russia will continue helping fuel-hungry Cuba with crucial supplies of oil, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, two weeks after Moscow sent a tanker with around 700,000 barrels of crude to the Caribbean island.
Goldman Sachs on Tuesday flagged both upside and downside risks to its average 2026 crude forecasts for Brent/WTI at $83/78 per barrel, citing growing uncertainty around Middle East developments and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Since the start of the Iran conflict, investors around the world have been worried that tight global oil supplies and high prices could eventually lead to a drop in demand. According to the International Energy Agency, these risks are finally starting to materialize.
The fourth-largest lender in the U.S. said its outlook for net interest income and noninterest expense in 2026 has remained unchanged