Overview
- Brent hovered around $64 a barrel and WTI near $59 on Monday after last week’s pullback from multi-week highs.
- Reports of a deadly crackdown that officials say killed about 5,000 protesters in Iran and President Trump’s softer tone on intervention reduced the perceived risk of near-term supply disruption.
- U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.4 million barrels in the week to Jan. 9, reinforcing bearish fundamentals flagged by analysts.
- Geopolitical uncertainty lingered as U.S. forces moved to the Gulf and markets weighed Trump’s tariff threat against European allies linked to the Greenland dispute.
- The U.S. is moving to expand Chevron’s license in Venezuela, though analysts caution any meaningful production recovery would take years.