The discount on Western Canada Select crude oil to North American benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures narrowed on Monday. WCS for July delivery in Hardisty, Alberta settled at minus $12.50 a barrel below the U.S. benchmark WTI, according to brokerage CalRock, compared with minus $15.30 in mid-May. * The WCS differential has been volatile since the start of the Iran conflict and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has sharply reduced crude exports from the region and [Read more]

U.S. crude exports climbed to a record 5.6 million barrels per day in May as the Middle East crisis pushed up demand for the country's oil from Asian and European refiners, ship tracking estimates showed on Monday. The U.S. and Israel's war with Iran triggered the largest-ever disruption to the global energy market with refiners globally scrambling for alternatives to Middle Eastern supply. Around a fifth of the world's oil and gas supplies passes through the Strait of Hormuz. a key waterway [Read more]

Iran's Tasnim news agency said on Monday that Tehran's negotiating team is stopping exchanges of messages with the United States through mediators due to attacks on Lebanon, as diplomatic efforts to end the three-month-old Iran war continue. The agency said Iran and the Resistance Front, which includes its Shiite allies in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq, have set an agenda to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts, including the Bab El Mandeb Strait, in order to "punish" Israel [Read more]

Oilfield services provider Weatherford International said on Monday it has agreed to acquire energy technology firm NCS Multistage Holdings in a cash-and-stock deal. On a blended basis, Weatherford will pay the equivalent of 0.463 of its shares for each NCS share, with roughly 20% of the consideration in cash. Based on Reuters calculations, the deal values NCS at about $126 million, or $48 per share, representing a premium of about 13% to its last close. * Amid increasingly demanding [Read more]

The U.S. said it struck Iranian military sites at the weekend and Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Monday it had targeted a U.S. base in response, the latest exchange of attacks amid negotiations to end the three-month-old war. The U.S. and Iran have sporadically exchanged strikes since their ceasefire took effect in early April as diplomacy aimed at a more durable agreement drags on. A similar exchange occurred last Thursday and was described in near-identical terms by both sides. The [Read more]

Goldman Sachs said late Sunday that weak oil demand in China and Europe poses a major downside risk to its fourth-quarter Brent crude forecast of $90 a barrel and WTI forecast of $83, although Middle East supply disruptions could still push prices higher. Here are a few details: * April retail sales data from China and Western Europe suggest roughly 2 million barrels per day of downside risk to Goldman Sachs' already conservative April oil demand estimates, potentially reducing its Brent [Read more]

China's seaborne imports of crude oil slumped to the lowest in almost 10 years in May as the impact of the Iran war led to a dramatic reshuffling of operations in the world's biggest oil importer. Seaborne arrivals of crude were 6.36 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, down from 8.10 million bpd in April and the weakest since October 2016, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler. Imports were also nearly half the 11.39 million bpd recorded by Kpler for February, the last [Read more]