The OPEC+ producer alliance agreed on August 2 to add another 188,000 barrels per day in September, completing the rollback of the voluntary cuts it imposed in 2023; the group then plans a three-month halt to further increases, pending a capacity review; war-related export disruptions in Iran and Ukraine have blunted each hike's market impact this year
The North Sea crude benchmark used to price roughly 80% of globally traded oil, underpinning government budgets, inflation, and energy security calculations worldwide.
full dossier ›Seven core OPEC+ members meet virtually on Sunday July 5 to approve a fifth straight 188,000-barrel-per-day increase for August; Brent crude has fallen to its lowest level since Iran's February closure of the Strait of Hormuz
The group's +188,000 bpd July hike brings cumulative increases since April above 600,000 bpd; Iranian exports and US-Iran Hormuz talks are driving the steepest oil price decline of 2026
Moscow's Kapotnya plant is offline until year-end; 17-plus regions face sales caps; Astana says no official request has arrived
Brent settled at $71.99 on June 26, its lowest since late February, before war-risk buyers stepped in after IRGC drone strikes on Bahrain and a second Hormuz tanker hit on June 27
The world's biggest oil port reopens to tankers as the Gulf supply shut-in unwinds
The benchmark settles below $70 and flips its curve structure for the first time since before the strait closed
Crude had fallen 40% from its wartime peak by June 25, then a projectile hit an Evergreen container ship in Hormuz and war-risk premiums snapped back
The Arabian Gulf crude benchmark used by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iraq to price roughly 12-14 million barrels per day of oil exports to Asia.
Three benchmark grades, one production cartel, US shale, and a US strategic reserve together set the oil price that drives inflation, trade balances and geopolitics.
Spot freight rates for the supertankers that move Persian Gulf crude in 2-million-barrel loads, the market signal that fastest reflects sanctions, war-risk, and chokepoint closures.
The US crude oil benchmark priced at Cushing, Oklahoma, underpinning North American energy markets and influencing government budgets and inflation worldwide.
The Dubai M1–M3 spread collapses from ~$37 to ~$8/bbl as the war premium fades, but Aramco's lagging formula left July differentials high enough to push China's Saudi intake toward ~600,000 bpd
A projectile hit the Ever Lovely's bridge at 14:10 UTC on June 25; US Central Command struck Iranian missile and radar sites in retaliation on June 26, Trump called it a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire MoU, and the IRGC denied involvement
The benchmark hits its lowest since February as shipping recovers; the 9 June STEO had Brent averaging $105 in June–July on a closed strait, a forecast the 17 June ceasefire upended in days
Netherlands activates its national oil crisis plan for the first time as the Strait of Hormuz closes
The Jetten cabinet triggered the Landelijk Crisisplan Olie on 18 April 2026, a first in the plan's history, and released a €967 million energy support package as petrol prices broke records above €2.65/litre following the US-Israel-Iran war