Crude oil and refined product futures were all seeing strong gains late Friday morning, with contracts easily on track to end the week with solid gains.
The day's gains are headline driven, with prices rising after President Trump said his trip to China resulted in that country agreeing to buy more U.S. crude and the president also expressing frustration over the ongoing military stalemate with Iran.
U.S. oil prices were up more than 3% at about 11:30 a.m. ET, with NYMEX June West Texas Intermediate crude ahead by $3.50 to $104.67/bbl in light trading as it approaches expiration next week. The more active July contract was $3.34 higher to $100.26/bbl.
July Brent crude was trading $3.14 higher to $108.86/bbl and August Brent was climbing by $2.89 to $104.27/bbl.
Crude contracts are about $9/bbl above their settlement last Friday.
Volume in refined products was also moving into the next-month contract, with activity for July RBOB outstripping that of June. The front-month contract was up 8.54cts, or more than 2%, to $3.6911/gal. The July contract was climbing by 8.45cts to $3.5452/gal.
June ULSD futures were up 14.15cts to $4.0471, a gain of about 3.6%. The equally-active July contract was trading 13.53cts higher at $3.9096.
RBOB futures are up about 17cts/gal on the week while ULSD futures have advanced by more than 15cts.
Prices have been supported this week by warnings that the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz could have long-term impacts on crude supply once the waterway is open.
The Energy Information Administration this week said it expects the strait to reopen sometime next month, but warned that oil shipments would likely be impacted through later this year. The agency reported that oil flows through the strait were down 30% in the first quarter of the year when compared to the same period last year. The data reflects the impact of only the first month of the closure, which is now approaching its third month.
Samer Hasn, senior market analyst at XS.com, said supply disruptions due to the closure are leading to drawdowns of global petroleum inventories at a record pace.
"As the war drags on, stockpiles will continue to dwindle worldwide, foreshadowing a catastrophe even deeper than the current one, despite partial adaptation by regional oil exporters through alternative routes that would restore some balance to the market," he wrote.
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 Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-15-26 1242ET
