Oil prices were little changed at the close on Tuesday after recovering from earlier losses, as markets weighed rising crude exports from the Middle East and G7 plans to draw on emergency diesel and crude reserves against supply concerns linked to attacks by the Houthi group.
Brent crude futures rose 26 cents, or 0.3%, to $100.58 a barrel at settlement, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1 cent to $89.44 a barrel.
The chief executive of commodities trading giant Vitol said on Tuesday that around 12 million barrels per day of crude oil and 2 million barrels per day of refined products—volumes considered necessary to ease pressure on prices—had left the Middle East aboard tankers over the past seven to 10 days.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the volume of oil being pumped through the East-West pipeline, which runs to Yanbu, the kingdom’s Red Sea export hub, had reached 5.8 million barrels by Tuesday morning.
Despite the increase in exports, the possibility of further disruptions to Middle East supplies limited the decline in oil prices.
The surge in diesel prices has made the fuel, a critical component of trucking, agriculture and industrial activity, a growing global economic and political concern. Wars in Iran and Ukraine have reduced exports and damaged refineries, pushing prices higher.
The Group of Seven agreed on Friday, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, to release 100 million barrels of diesel and crude oil from emergency reserves and pledged not to impose restrictions on energy exports.
With the war in Iran disrupting the flow of oil supplies from the Middle East, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast on Tuesday that global oil production would fall from a record 106.3 million barrels per day in 2025 to 101.1 million barrels per day in 2026. It also forecast global oil demand to decline from a record 104.4 million barrels per day in 2025 to 102.4 million barrels per day in 2026.
The EIA nevertheless expects global oil supply and demand to rebound in 2027, with production reaching a record 109.6 million barrels per day and consumption reaching 104.6 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, oil markets are awaiting the latest weekly U.S. inventory reports from the American Petroleum Institute, due later Tuesday, and the EIA, due Wednesday.
Analysts estimate that U.S. energy companies added 1.7 million barrels of crude oil to inventories in the week ended October 2.
If confirmed, it would mark the first time since August that U.S. crude inventories have risen for three consecutive weeks. That compares with an increase of about 3.7 million barrels during the same week last year and an average increase of 1.7 million barrels over the five years from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Reuters
