Headlines

Oil tanker availability along the U.S. Gulf Coast has dropped sharply in recent weeks, as Asian and European refiners cut off from Middle Eastern supply have been snapping up vessels to import oil and fuel from the United States, shipping analysts and traders said. The Iran war has stalled tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz, curbing the flow of Middle Eastern oil to Asia and Europe, and prompting refiners there to buy replacement barrels from the United States, Brazil and West [Read more]

The United States will be "out of Iran pretty quickly" and could return for "spot hits" if needed, President Donald Trump told Reuters on Wednesday, hours before he was scheduled to make a primetime address to the nation. Trump also said he would express his disgust with NATO for what he considers the alliance's lack of support for U.S. objectives in Iran. He said he is "absolutely" considering an attempt to withdraw the United States from NATO. Asked when the United States would consider the [Read more]

Iran's new leader has just asked the United States for a ceasefire, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. "We will consider when Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until then, we are blasting Iran into oblivion," he said. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, writing by David Ljunggren, Editing by Louise Heavens) [Read more]

U.S. crude stocks rose while gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Crude inventories rose by 5.5 million barrels to 461.6 million barrels in the week ended March 27, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 814,000-barrel rise. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by 520,000 barrels in the week, the EIA said. Oil futures held on to earlier losses following the [Read more]

Bahrain has circulated a revised U.N. Security Council draft resolution on protecting commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, retaining language authorising “all necessary means” but dropping an explicit reference to binding enforcement. Shipping through the waterway, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass and which underpins Gulf economies, has already slowed to a near-halt after Iran struck vessels amid its conflict with the United States and [Read more]