Crude inventories fell by 3.8 million barrels to 408.4 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4.5 million-barrel draw. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 709,000 barrels in the week ended June 26, the EIA said. Refinery crude runs rose by 85,000 barrels per day. Refinery utilization rates rose by 0.5 percentage points in the week. U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 214 [Read more]

One stage of the Iran war has ended, but the world may be mistaking a pre-election pause for lasting peace. Tehran's economic leverage will likely remain strong through the U.S. midterm elections in November, but could weaken once the votes are counted, raising the risk of renewed confrontation afterward. In this dangerous new environment, how might the rest of the world position itself to avoid becoming collateral damage once again? Whether the 60-day talks between the U.S. and Iran will [Read more]

Canada's world-famous Calgary Stampede kicks off on Friday, but a push by Alberta separatists to begin the process of splitting from the country is casting a shadow over the festivities and spurring division at rodeos across the oil-rich province. Alberta residents will vote in a non-binding referendum in October on whether to remain part of Canada, the first time a province outside of Quebec has ever put the question of separation to the public. In the small town of Sundre, in central Alberta, [Read more]

Iran is determined to win international recognition of its control over the Strait of Hormuz and ability to levy fees on ships entering or leaving the Gulf even if it has to do so by force, two senior Iranian sources said. Under this month's interim deal with the U.S. to end their three-month conflict, Iran agreed to let ships pass through the Strait for 60 days without charge. But it believes the wording of the agreement allows it to keep control of which ships may pass and which route they [Read more]

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Tuesday urged supporters of data centers at an Amazon Web Services conference to push back against critics, saying concerns about the facilities are "overblown." Wright listed concerns that opponents have raised about the boom in the facilities including water and power use and that the artificial intelligence they support will take away jobs and harm communities. "These are the things that everyone is saying and right now in the polls, they are [Read more]

U.S. crude oil production rose to 13.93 million barrels per day in April, the highest on record, monthly data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Tuesday, as producers ramped up output in response to higher oil prices owing to the Iran war. Production rose by 216,000 bpd in April, EIA data showed, with production in New Mexico touching a record high of 2.37 million bpd. Crude production in Texas edged 36,000 bpd higher to 5.83 million bpd, the highest since November. Texas [Read more]

Oil prices were heading on Tuesday for their biggest quarterly loss since the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, with investors eyeing potential U.S.-Iran talks in Doha amid a strained interim ceasefire in the four-month-old war. Brent August crude futures, which expire on Tuesday, were up 0.21%, or 15 cents, at $73.30 a barrel at 1302 GMT. However, the contract was on track for a third straight monthly decline, down about 20% so far in June. The more actively traded September contract [Read more]