Oil prices rallied today as Gazprom officially declared force majeure on its supplies to a “European Customer” (Germany). They will be halting supplies to the region indefinitely, which will lead manufacturing and utilities to transition to oil over gas. European nations are already taking measures (dimming streetlights, restating power plants) and asking citizens to turn down their thermostats. A weaker dollar, driven by overblown fears of a larger-than-expected rate hike by the Fed has been helping prices. “Today’s strong advance resulted largely from a sizable and broad-based weakening in the U.S. dollar that has been providing a key driver behind daily oil price swings during the past several weeks,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC in Galena, Illinois. TC also declared force majeure on its Keystone pipeline and caused the basis to narrow on some Canadian crude grades. WTI traded up $5.01 or 5.13% to close at $102.60. Brent traded up $5.11 or 5.05% to close at $106.27.