Iran conveyed its conditions for reviving diplomacy to the US in a two-hour-long exchange of messages through a mediator on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on X on Wednesday. Conditions conveyed through a Qatari mediator included accepting the safe route in the Strait of Hormuz on which understanding between the two coastal countries has been reached, end of US action against Iran including economic "terrorism", [Read more]

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee believes the US central bank may need to treat the current energy shock as a source of persistent inflation rather than expect it to dissipate on its own. "For big negative supply shocks... you'd be better off just assuming from the beginning this thing is going to be pretty persistent on inflation: that's certainly what happened in Covid; that's what happened with the tariffs. That's maybe what's happening with oil," Goolsbee said in [Read more]

** Shares of oil producer Devon Energy rise 3.2% to $48.43 ** Activist investor Toms Capital, in a letter, urges Devon to explore alternatives, including a sale, according to CNBC ** Toms is now one of Devon's top five shareholders - letter viewed by CNBC ** CNBC reports that in meetings prior to sending its letter, Toms had encouraged a similar strategy and now is urging the company to sell itself ** Toms Capital and Devon Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for [Read more]

US crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose by 3 million barrels to 426.4 million barrels in the week ended September 18, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 641,000-barrel draw. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 2.2 million barrels in the week to 23.7 million barrels, the EIA said. Oil futures were little [Read more]

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Wednesday said a US ban on diesel exports would not work and could push up gasoline and jet fuel prices, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump, who is backing the idea. Diesel prices have surged to record highs due to the US-Israeli war with Iran and the conflict in Ukraine, angering farmers and other users of the fuel ahead of the midterm elections in November that will decide control of Congress. "The blunt tool of banning diesel exports [Read more]

Soaring fuel costs are increasing pressure on US President Donald Trump to curb diesel exports ahead of November's midterm elections. But what may seem like an easy fix could unleash a chain reaction that ultimately leaves American consumers and the global economy worse off. Surging energy prices since the start of the Iran war in late February are setting off alarm bells in the White House. While politically sensitive gasoline prices remain elevated at nearly $4.50 a gallon, attention in [Read more]

Asia's imports of crude oil rose to the highest in September since the Iran war started, but even with the recovery they remained some 13% below pre-conflict levels. The world's biggest oil-consuming region is on track to import 23.96 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, up from 23.38 million bpd in August and the most since February, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. Asia's crude imports have been trending higher since hitting the lowest in more than 10 years [Read more]

The first shuttle talks between the United States and Iran for months raised hopes on Wednesday that the adversaries could make some progress towards ending the Middle East war, although neither side spelled out any change in their positions. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicated through mediators on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the first such contacts since an interim ceasefire agreement collapsed in [Read more]