The Brent market looks very much the same, giving back a little bit of gains after a couple of exhaustion candlesticks earlier this week. And with that being the case, this pullback’s probably healthy. Again, we had a very strong rally this week. Gravity eventually shows up.
But there are the usual suspects moving this market as well. The Strait of Hormuz shipping remains constrained, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refinery infrastructure is adding another layer to some of the tightness here as well. The analysts out there are starting to raise their forecast on crude oil at some of the major banks, so that also comes into play.
Now the Iraqis have begun to export about 2.3 million barrels per day in August from 1.35 million barrels in July, so that comes into effect here as well, maybe keeping a little bit of a lid here. As we head into the weekend, there are still a lot of questions.
