Oil Information: Oil Demand at Threat as EU-US Commerce Tensions Peak August 1st…

Whereas a modest U.S.-Japan commerce settlement offered temporary optimism, the broader commerce uncertainty stored crude costs below stress for a lot of the week.

Final week, Mild Crude Oil futures settled at $65.16, down $zero.89 or -1.35%.

The European Union’s retaliatory stance, proposing tariffs on $109 billion value of U.S. items, solely amplified market issues. Merchants are more and more targeted on whether or not these commerce disputes will materially affect international vitality consumption, significantly as each OPEC and the IEA have already dialed again their 2025 demand development forecasts.

Stock Attracts Present Welcome Aid to Bulls

A big vibrant spot emerged midweek when the Power Info Administration reported a larger-than-expected three.2 million barrel attract U.S. crude inventories, greater than double analyst forecasts. This bullish shock helped stabilize costs and reminded merchants that underlying fundamentals stay supportive regardless of macro headwinds.

The stock decline, coupled with continued energy in distillate margins, offered essential assist in the course of the week’s most difficult periods. Asian crude imports have additionally defied pessimistic forecasts, with China and India main a 510,000 barrel per day improve within the first half of 2025, pushed by opportunistic shopping for at softer value ranges.

Provide Disruptions Add Geopolitical Premium

A number of provide hiccups stored merchants on edge all through the week. Azerbaijan’s BTC crude loadings confronted contamination-related delays at Turkey’s Ceyhan port, whereas Russia quickly halted operations at key Black Sea terminals. Although these disruptions have been in the end resolved, they highlighted the market’s ongoing sensitivity to export bottlenecks.