U.S. drilling activity remains firmly elevated on a year-over-year basis even as weekly moves stay modest. Baker Hughes’ traditional rotary count printed 604 active U.S. rigs for the week ending November 6, 2026 (up 1 week-over-week and up 56 from a year earlier). Oil-directed rigs reached 463 (+1) and gas-directed rigs 131 (+1). WellDatabase’s operator-level […]
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Two U.S. carriers sit in the Arabian Sea, tankers are still being hit near Hormuz, and refinery strikes in Russia have resumed. Brent just fell to its lowest since Aug. 31 anyway. Here is what is confirmed, what open-source trackers see, the signals for and against a new strike, and what each chokepoint means for […]
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Unconfirmed Houthi strike claims on Saudi oil sites and a reported mine hit in Hormuz pushed Brent past $111. With diesel at $6.32, truckers, farmers and grocery shoppers carry the load, and U.S. barrels and refineries are the cushion. By Energy News Beat | Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026 | Pump prices as of 7:19 a.m. […]
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Iran says two loaded tankers hit mines. Ukraine ended a brief energy truce, the SPR put 17 million more barrels on offer, European wholesale gas sits $25 above the U.S. benchmark, and the Secretary of State is touring the world’s largest single-site refinery. Here is how this week’s five biggest stories land in your tank […]
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WTI is hovering near $89 after a sharp September unwind from above $100. Brent is still the more stubborn benchmark, recently trading in the mid-to-high $90s after spending stretches of the month above $100. The market is no longer pricing a clean “Hormuz victory.” It is pricing a split world: more crude is moving again, […]
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Diesel prices in the United States have smashed through records, topping $6.31 a gallon nationally as of September 16, 2026. Truckers, farmers, and households feel it immediately. Heating oil, chemically similar to diesel, is following the same path. With midterms weeks away, the political pressure is intense. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he is […]
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Commercial crude oil inventories excluding the SPR fell 640,000 barrels to 423.4 million barrels. That was a third consecutive weekly draw, but smaller than Wall Street expected. Analysts in a Wall Street Journal survey had looked for a 1.4 million-barrel decline. Commercial crude is now about 1% above the five-year average for this time of […]
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Brent settled above $101 on Wednesday, September 9, and WTI followed through the $100 level on Thursday morning in a sharp rally. Physical benchmarks had already been there. Dated Brent has held above $100 since September 3. Murban, DME Oman, the OPEC basket, and the Indian basket were already trading over that threshold. Futures are […]
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Physical tightness, high product cracks, and China’s selective rebound in buying are supporting prices, but inventories, China’s still-subdued import volumes, and the existing backwardation already price in a good deal of risk. What the OilPrice article and related reporting show The Sept. 7 OilPrice piece (and the overlapping Bloomberg coverage it draws on) reports that […]
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After coordinated IEA releases during the Iran war and earlier drawdowns that were never fully replaced, SPR crude sits at 286.6 million barrels as of the EIA week ending August 28, 2026 — about 40% of authorized 714-million-barrel capacity and the lowest level since the early 1980s. That level already sits inside the band most […]
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