Post #15990

Oil Stays Elevated as Supply Risks Remain Front and Center Oil is staying elevated because supply risk is still very real. WTI pushed up toward $96 as markets stayed locked in on the Middle East, where any further escalation could tighten flows and keep crude supported. Even with some mixed rhetoric from the US side suggesting this could cool off, the bigger issue is that the market still sees too many ways supply can get disrupted. The Strait of Hormuz remains the main pressure point, and now traders are also watching the Red Sea. If the Houthis get involved and threaten Bab el-Mandeb, that would add another major layer of risk and likely send oil even higher. So for now, despite some talk that this could settle down, the supply backdrop still leans bullish for crude. - Alan