Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran faded on Sunday, as efforts to revive talks stalled and both Tehran and Washington showed little sign of softening their positions. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi flew back to the Middle East from mediation talks in Pakistan over the weekend, while U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped a planned visit to Islamabad by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Although a ceasefire has paused full-scale fighting in the [Read more]

Top oilfield services companies SLB and Baker Hughes said on Friday they expect higher spending on oil exploration and production, as tighter global supplies driven by the Middle East conflict highlight the need for investment, particularly in North America. The U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has halted 20% of the world's oil that usually flows through the now-closed Strait of Hormuz and shut in 9 million barrels a day of oil production, causing Asian and European countries to scramble for supplies. [Read more]

U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the first time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by one to 544 in the week to April 24, its highest since mid-April. Despite the rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 43 rigs, or 7% below this time last year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs fell by three to 407 this week, [Read more]

Oil tanker HELGA, sailing under the flag of Comoros, arrived at one of the offshore oil loading terminals in Iraq's southern Basra port on Friday and was preparing to load 2 million barrels of crude, two port sources said. The vessel is the second tanker to reach Basra's southern offshore terminals since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the sources added. (Reporting by Mohammed Aref; Editing by Susan Fenton) [Read more]

The Iran war will have a bigger and more lasting impact on oil and gas prices than is being priced in, Eni's finance chief Francesco Gattei said on Friday as the group raised its estimate for 2026 Brent crude prices to $83 per barrel, from $70. Eni also lifted its forecast for Dutch TTF gas prices to 50 euros per megawatt hour, from 36 euros per MWh, as it reported first-quarter adjusted net profit of 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion), down from 1.4 billion euros a year earlier and below an [Read more]

Gulf oil production, sharply curtailed by the Iran conflict, is likely to mostly recover within a few months after the Strait of Hormuz fully reopens, but could take significantly longer, Goldman Sachs said on Thursday. The bank estimated about 14.5 million barrels per day of Gulf crude output – around 57% of pre-war supply – was offline in April, largely due to precautionary shutdowns and stock management rather than physical damage to oilfields. The Strait of Hormuz handles about a fifth [Read more]

The White House is expected to extend the Jones Act waiver for up to 90 days as early as Friday to help blunt fuel price pressures tied to the Iran conflict, according to two sources familiar with the decision. The move would temporarily ease requirements that goods transported between U.S. ports be carried on American-built and American-crewed vessels, allowing foreign-flagged ships to move fuel and other key commodities more freely as the administration seeks to contain energy market [Read more]

U.S. oil executives expect domestic production to rise as the ongoing war in Iran upends global supplies and pushes crude and fuel prices higher, according to a Dallas Fed survey. The survey collected data from April 15 to April 20 from 120 oil and gas firms, of which 78 were exploration and production firms and 42 were oilfield services firms. * A total of 43% of survey respondents expect U.S. crude production to rise by up to 250,000 barrels per day this year as a result of the Iran war. [Read more]