Crude oil contracts erased some early declines and were posting slight gains ahead of midday Friday after the U.S. said it would temporarily lift sanctions on Russian oil already at sea in a bid to ease a global petroleum supply crunch caused by the continuing conflict in the Middle East.
The Nymex April West Texas Intermediate contract was up roughly 10cts to $95.85/bbl at about 11:30 a.m. ET. The May WTI contract was 5cts higher at $94.45/bbl.
The April WTI contract has risen by about $28/bbl from its Feb. 27 settlement, a day before the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran.
The ICE May Brent crude was off 60cts to $101.05/bbl and June Brent was 30cts higher at $96.90/bbl.
The April RBOB contract was up 1.75cts to around $2.9815/gal and the May contract was by 1.5cts higher at $2.9345/gal. The April ULSD contract was unchanged at $3.8990/gal and the May contract was down 1.4cts to $3.645/gal.
Jittery energy investors appeared skeptical that any temporary measures would ease a severe global supply shortage caused by the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz to ship traffic.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a late Thursday social media post that the temporary authorization of Russian oil would continue until April 11.
India has also been in talks with Iran to secure the passage of at least 23 tankers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing two unnamed Indian government officials.
In addition, the White House is also considering a 30-day suspension of the Jones Act--a law that requires all vessels carrying goods including oil and refined products between two U.S. ports to be American-built and owned, Bloomberg reported.
Goldman Sachs on Thursday estimated that a 30-day waiver of the Jones Act would reduce refined product prices along the East Coast by 60cts to 80cts/gal.
In U.S. cash refined product markets, Pacific Northwest sub-octane gasoline prices were nearly 11cts higher at midday over heightened supply concerns along the West Coast that imports from Asia have declined as refineries in the region have been forced to reduce output because of the loss of oil supply from the Middle East. Prices in other markets were mostly tracking moves in futures.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeffrey Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-13-26 1214ET
