U.S. crude stocks, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories fell by 913,000 barrels to 463.8 million barrels in the week ended April 10, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 154,000-barrel rise. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.7 million barrels in the week, the EIA said. Oil futures pared earlier losses following the report. Global [Read more]

Total U.S. crude oil and petroleum products exports rose to 12.7 million barrels per day last week, the highest on record, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday. Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in its ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel has sharply cut Middle Eastern oil exports and raised demand for U.S. barrels. Total U.S. oil and products exports rose about 1 million bpd week-over-week, the biggest jump in a month, the EIA data [Read more]

The United States and Iran made progress in talks on Tuesday and are moving closer to a framework agreement to end the war, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing two US officials. (Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona;) [Read more]

(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.) By Robert Cyran NEW YORK, April 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - For every problem, there’s a ready-made easy solution that is also just plain wrong. A ban on U.S. oil exports fits into the category. Prices for crude and the products made from it are rising because of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. Asian and European buyers, desperate for replacements, are therefore looking elsewhere. The United [Read more]

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. * Reduced flows through Hormuz pose the biggest upside risk to Goldman's price forecasts, with estimated oil flows through the strait still at 10% of normal or 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd), they said. * The United States Navy on Monday had begun a [Read more]

Global investors and the International Monetary Fund seem to agree the Iran war is likely over - bar the shouting. The energy market is less sure, and there could be an awful lot of shouting, but many asset prices have returned to square one, and markets now see the conflict's impact only at the margins. The IMF's unenviable task of forecasting global economic growth during a Middle East war and energy shock left as many questions as answers, and a plethora of different scenarios. Take your [Read more]

Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday with Brent futures up and U.S. futures down amid uncertainty over crude supply from the key Middle East producing region as the Strait of Hormuz remains mainly shut. Brent crude futures were up 40 cents, or 0.4%, to $95.19 a barrel at 0420 GMT, paring earlier losses of as much as 0.9%, after falling 4.6% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $91.05. The contract earlier fell as much as 4.7% after dropping [Read more]

The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures widened on Tuesday. WCS for May delivery in Hardisty, Alberta, settled at $16.50 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared to $16.25 on Monday. * The WCS differential has been volatile since the start of the U.S. war on Iran, with competing variables pulling and pushing on relative prices for Canadian heavy crude. * Analysts have said planned [Read more]

U.S. electric utilities expect to spend $1.4 trillion on power lines and other infrastructure-related costs over the next five years, raising concerns about rising power bills ahead for American homes and businesses, according to research released on Tuesday. * Utilities' five-year capital expenditure plans rose 20% from last year's reported plans, said PowerLines, a nonprofit that advocates for utility reform, which authored the report. * Regulated electric utilities can recover capital [Read more]