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* Tehran says gaps remain over nuclear issues, Strait of Hormuz * Trump cites 'very good conversations' * Iran reimposes Strait of Hormuz closure * Shipping remains uncertain after vessels report gunfire By Trevor Hunnicutt, Ariba Shahid and Muhammad Al Gebaly WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, April 19 - Iran's top negotiator said recent talks with the U.S. had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz, while President Donald Trump cited "very good conversations" with [Read more]

Iraq's oil ministry said oil exports would resume from all fields within the next few days, the Iraqi state news agency INA reported on Saturday. Four energy sources said that Iraq resumed southern oil exports on Friday after a halt of more than a month caused by disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, with one tanker beginning to load crude. (Reporting by Enas Alashray; Editing by Louise Heavens) [Read more]

A convoy of eight tankers was crossing the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, data showed, as some ship owners said they hoped Tehran would allow them to leave the Gulf during a short ceasefire window in the Iran war. The group - comprising one very large crude oil carrier (VLCC), several oil product and chemical tankers and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers - was passing through Iranian waters south of Larak island, according to MarineTraffic data. More tankers were seen following from the [Read more]

Goldman Sachs said softer oil demand and easing supply disruptions have balanced out the risks in its oil price outlook, though it kept its 2026 average forecasts unchanged. The bank maintained its Brent and WTI crude forecasts for 2026 at $83 a barrel and $78 a barrel, respectively, assuming oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway through which about 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass, gradually normalize by mid-May. * Crude prices settled down [Read more]

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Friday it had loaned26.03 million barrels of crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to nine oil companies, the third allotment under the Trump administration's effort to curb fuel prices that have surged since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The Trump administration agreed in March to release 172 million barrels from the SPR in a coordinated move with the International Energy Agency to draw down 400 million barrels in an effort to control fuel prices [Read more]

CALGARY - Iran says it has reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, but a University of British Columbia economist says it could be a while before any calm returns to rattled global oil markets. Werner Antweiler, an associate professor at the Sauder School of Business, says it's not as easy as flipping a switch and it will take time for the backlog of oil shipments to work itself out — and that's if hostilities don't resume. Antweiler says Insurers also still have to sign off [Read more]

U.S. energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for a second straight week for the first time since March, 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, fell by two to 543 in the week to April 17, the lowest since late March. Baker Hughes said this week's decline puts the total rig count down 42 rigs, or 7% below this time last year. Baker Hughes said oil [Read more]

Investors placed a bet worth about $760 million on a falling oil price around 20 minutes before Iran's foreign minister announced on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open, another sizeable wager on the world's most traded commodity ahead of major announcements in the course of the Middle East war. Large, well-timed trades in recent months have drawn concern from U.S. lawmakers and legal experts that decisions around war and diplomacy can give some traders an edge in volatile and opaque [Read more]