Daily Oil Fundamentals

Hopes of Strait Re-opening Rise Again

05 Aug 2026

Hopes of Strait Re-opening Rise Again

Something unusual, or even strange, happened yesterday. It was not the almost $5/bbl fall in oil prices that sent Brent below $80/bbl for the first time since July 13. We have been here before. Nor was there anything particularly unusual about the trigger. It appears that talks to reopen the critical Persian Gulf passageway, the Strait of Hormuz, are gathering momentum once again. What was unusual was the source.

Daily Oil Fundamentals

Running Out of Options

04 Aug 2026

Running Out of Options

It will be a goodly time before this report’s preamble, or in fact the whole offering, will be able to avoid any reference to Donald Trump and his ‘event horizon’ created by the war in and around Iran. The gravity, in both senses of the word, is not diminishing and the longer this saga goes on, the fewer opportunities there will be to escape its magnetism for all markets and the global economy.

Daily Oil Fundamentals

A Customary Look Backward

03 Aug 2026

A Customary Look Backward

Navigating the current political and economic waters is a gnarly challenge, and even this axiom sounds like an understatement. There are two military wars, with all their twists and turns, that markets are forced to cope with. In addition, economic and trade wars, together with the battle against inflation, add several more layers of uncertainty to forming a reliable view of the state of the world. Yet investors are doing what they can to interpret developments as they unfold, which, most plausibly, means reacting to headlines.

Insights

Daily Oil Fundamentals