Iranian people walk through the area under a state building covered with a giant anti-U.S. billboard depicting a symbolic image of the destroyed USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) aircraft carrier, in downtown Tehran, Iran, on February 26, 2026, the final day of Iran-U.S. talks that are currently held in the city of Geneva. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NurPhoto via Getty ImagesOn paper, oil prices should be falling.The Energy Information Administration reported a 16-million-barrel build ...

China and the United States, the world’s largest and second-largest crude oil importers, respectively, appear to have enough strategic reserves to go through an oil supply disruption in the key producing region, the Middle East, in case the U.S.-Iran standoff escalates to U.S. strikes on the Islamic Republic. Sure, any disruption to oil shipping in the Middle East would send oil prices higher from the current seven-month high of $71 per barrel Brent. The market panic in case Thursday’s U.S.-Iran talks f ...

For years, American businesses have risked running out of critical minerals during market disruptions. Today, we're launching what will be known as Project Vault to ensure that American businesses and workers are never harmed by any shortage. We don't want to ever go through what we went through a year ago, just as we although it did work out.Thank you. Just as we have long had a Strategic Petroleum Reserve and a stockpile of critical minerals for national defense, we're now creating this reserve for Americ ...

Joe Carroll gave us a little overview. This news sending shares of some of these rare earth companies higher, even higher today. What do we know about the president's plans.What does he hope to accomplish here. So all we know right now is that they're launching a $12 billion fund of sorts to allow for something called Project Bolt to purchase critical minerals to put into a strategic stockpile that is specifically available to U.S. private companies. The idea here is we've had a national defense stockpile o ...

Core Insights - The energy sector is experiencing significant changes with fluctuating oil prices and strategic acquisitions among major companies [4][10][19] Company Overview - BP is involved in various energy sectors, including natural gas, biofuels, and renewable energy, and offers a 5.71% dividend [2] - Chevron focuses on oil and gas, providing a 4.40% dividend, and has a strong credit rating [7] - ConocoPhillips has a 3.57% dividend and has expanded through acquisitions, including a $22.5 billion purchase of Marathon Oil [12] - ExxonMobil is the largest international integrated oil and gas company, yielding 3.48% and recently acquired Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion [17][19] - TotalEnergies operates globally with a 6.35% dividend and engages in various energy segments, including renewables and refining [20][23] Market Dynamics - Oil prices have recently fallen below $60 per barrel due to oversupply and weak demand, with expectations of further declines [4] - The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has released over 200 million barrels in response to supply disruptions, notably due to geopolitical events [5] - OPEC+ is unwinding production cuts, which may further impact oil prices [4] Strategic Moves - Chevron's acquisition of Hess Corporation is valued at $53 billion, with a total enterprise value of $60 billion [10] - ExxonMobil's acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources is expected to secure low-cost production for a decade [19] Analyst Ratings - Berenberg Bank has a Buy rating for Chevron, though no target price is provided [6] - UBS has a Buy rating for ExxonMobil with a target price of $143 [19] - Royal Bank of Canada has set a target price of $80.95 for TotalEnergies [23]

The Trump administration plans to buy 1 million barrels for the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, taking advantage of low oil prices to begin filing the depleted stockpile. https://t.co/p2JFd1b4BN ...

Geopolitical Risk & Oil Market Impact - The market is pricing in some risk related to potential conflict escalation between Israel and Iran, but traders are somewhat desensitized to geopolitical disruptions due to past false alarms [4][5] - A full disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 18 to 20 million barrels a day of oil and 20% of traded LNG pass, is considered a possibility but deemed "suicidal and self-harming" for Iran [2] - Iran has alternative options to disrupt oil markets, including attacks on energy infrastructure like the Saudi stabilization plant (Abqaiq) or harassment of ships [3] - The conflict's expansion to include attacks on key Gulf infrastructure is a major concern for Gulf countries [14] Spare Capacity & Alternative Routes - Most of the world's spare oil production capacity is located within the Strait of Hormuz, primarily in Saudi Arabia and the UAE [7] - Limited options exist to redirect oil around the Strait of Hormuz, including the Saudi East-West pipeline (5 million barrels a day capacity, with potential to increase by 3-35 million barrels a day) and the UAE's Fujairah pipeline (approximately 1 million barrels a day) [8][9] - Redirecting 3 to 4 million barrels a day of crude oil around the Strait of Hormuz might be possible [9] Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) - The US SPR is at approximately 400 million barrels, representing half of its previous capacity [11] - Coordinated stock releases with IEA partners could potentially provide 2 million barrels a day in the event of a major disruption [12] - SPR release would only make a dent in the potential loss of 14 million barrels a day of crude and 6 million barrels a day of products [12] OPEC+ Response - OPEC+ is expected to maintain its current policy, remaining neutral and hoping the situation de-escalates [15]