Oil edges higher with stockpiles and trade-war twists in focus

Oil edged higher after a three-day drop as traders tracked US stockpiles and the latest twists in the Washington-led trade wars.

Brent rose toward $69 a barrel after shedding more than 2% over the previous three sessions, while West Texas Intermediate was near $67. US government data released on Wednesday was mixed, with an increase in distillate inventories but a decline in nationwide crude holdings.

President Donald Trump said he would send letters to more than 150 countries notifying them of tariff rates, and that the levies imposed could be 10% or 15%. Investors were also tracking his stance toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell after the US leader denied a plan to remove him.

Oil has ticked higher this month — building on an upward trend since May — despite concerns that Trump’s tariff onslaught will hurt demand. While the market remains preoccupied with the prospect of a glut later this year as peak summer demand wanes and OPEC+ returns halted supplies, nearer-term indicators, including in the diesel market, have been supportive.

“Near term, the market is grappling with relatively low inventories of crude and diesel in Europe and the US, with diesel shortages lending immediate strength to prices,” said Zhou Mi, an analyst at a research institute affiliated with Chaos Ternary Futures Co. Still, crude may return to a bearish trend once OPEC+ supply growth translates into a build-up in oil inventories, Zhou said.

In the US, distillate stockpiles remain at the lowest seasonal level since 1996 even after last week’s increase. At the same time, the spread in futures between low-sulfur gasoil and Brent for September— a gauge of the profitability of making diesel — has risen about 7% this month.

In the Middle East, several oil fields in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq were attacked by drones on Wednesday, adding to a spate of hits on energy installations in the area. Still, the region hasn’t been shipping any crude to global markets since an export pipeline was shut over two years ago.

© 2025 Bloomberg

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