Brent crude settled at $69.14, up 99 cents (1.45%), while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) closed at $65.59, up $1.58 (2.47%).
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned a shipping network accused of disguising Iranian crude as Iraqi oil, in a move analysts said reaffirmed Washington’s hard line on Tehran amid stalled nuclear talks. “The U.S. cracking down on Iranian exports was definitely supportive of prices today,” said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.
Attention now turns to the September 7 OPEC+ meeting, where analysts expect the core group of eight members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, will maintain voluntary output cuts. “They may want to see more data after the summer driving season before making changes,” said independent analyst Gaurav Sharma.
Market sentiment was also influenced by reports that Saudi Aramco and Iraq’s SOMO have cut sales to India’s Nayara Energy following EU sanctions in July, reducing availability of non-sanctioned barrels. At the same time, Ukrainian drone strikes have disabled roughly 17% of Russia’s oil processing capacity (1.1 million bpd), tightening global balances even as Kazakhstan increased production slightly in August.
Geopolitics loomed in the background after the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, where China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin called for a new global order prioritizing the “Global South.” Analysts warned the meeting could prompt the U.S. to tighten secondary sanctions, especially on India, which remains in trade talks with Washington despite facing doubled tariffs on its exports.
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo added that expectations of another U.S. crude inventory draw were also supportive, especially with the U.S. summer driving season — the world’s peak demand window — officially ending with Labor Day.