Oil prices began February at $73/barrel. After an initial announcement of tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, the Trump administration quickly decided to pause for 30 days. Additional tariffs and sanctions were placed on China and Iran also. These actions caused oil prices to retreat for the near term toward $70/barrel, but fears of a trade war are building.

Oil prices began 2025 ascending towards $80/barrel. The main contributors being the positive economic news coming from China, as well as the coldest temperatures in the past decade across the U.S. These factors were causing oil prices to spike due to a brighter global demand picture, and the more immediate need for heating oil in the Northeast. The following graph

Oil prices opened the last month of 2024 in the high $60s/barrel. OPEC+ met in early December and decided to move any production increases until April 2025. Previously, production cuts were supposed to begin unwinding in January. Furthermore, they announced an additional year of restrictions, as suppliers are showing their concern about oil prices falling further in 2025’s weaker demand

Oil prices began November in the low $70s/barrel after OPEC+ announced delaying their production increase until at least January 2025. The potential damage of Hurricane Rafael threatened to disrupt oil production, which also helped support rising oil prices for the meantime. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: By mid-month, oil prices began to

Fuel prices reversed their recent trend as oil prices elevated back into the $70s/barrel due to Iran’s missile attack on Israel. Fears of retaliation, specifically on Iran oilfields, caused prices to spike early in October as high as $77/barrel. The following graph shows the daily price movements over the past three months: By mid-month, the premium built into oil prices