World News
Oil Soars As Trump Demands Iran's Surrender, Says Won't Kill Its Leader – "For Now"
Following a blip of market optimism that the Iran/Israel conflict may end in a ceasefire, oil resumed its meteoric upward trajectory on Tuesday, as airstrikes between the two countries continued.
However, major oil and gas flows have not yet suffered significant impact., thus limiting gains.
Brent settled up $3.22 at $76.45 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate settled up $3.07 to $74.84 per barrel.
To date, Israel's damage to the sector has been confined to two strikes: on Iran's South Pars field it shares with Qatar, and on the Shahran oil depot.
Ole Hansen, analyst at Saxo Bank, said, "The market is largely worried about disruption through [the Strait of] Hormuz, but the risk of that is very low."
Tuesday's rise in oil prices were said to be largely triggered by comments from U.S. president Donald Trump, who on his social media platform called for Iran's "unconditional surrender" and added that "We are not going to" kill the Islamic republic's leader, "at least for now."
Tuesday was business as usual for the International Energy Agency, which reinforced its growing reputation as a vanguard of market pessimism by revising its world oil demand estimate downwards by 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) from last month's forecast and increasing its supply estimate by 200,000 bpd to 1.8 million bpd.
The message projected by the IEA seemed at odds with the Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau, which earlier forecast pump price hikes this week, citing gains on positive U.S.-China trade signals and an expected oil demand growth in the next two and a half decades.
In a similarly bullish vein, the American Petroleum Institute estimated that crude inventories in the U.S. fell by 10.13 million barrels in the week ending June 13, compared with expectations for a 600,000-barrel draw.
Gasoline inventories also fell in the week ending June 13, by 202,000 barrels, after rising by 2.9 million barrels in the week prior.
Key Bunker Prices More
| VLSFO | MGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $/mt | +/- | $/mt | +/- | |
| Singapore | 570.50 | 0.00 | 715.50 | 13.50 |
| Rotterdam | 532.00 | 4.50 | 739.00 | 3.00 |
| Houston | 546.50 | 8.50 | 740.00 | 27.00 |
| Fujairah | 560.00 | 1.00 | 777.00 | 10.00 |
| Global 20 Ports Average | 588.00 | 1.00 | 805.00 | 13.00 |
| Global 4 Ports Average | 552.00 | 1.00 | 743.00 | 13.00 |
| Global Average Bunker Price | 619.00 | 2.50 | 835.50 | 3.00 |
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