Oil futures extended gains Thursday after President Trump said the U.S. is planning additional strikes against Iran in response to the downing of an American Apache helicopter, according to a Wall Street Journal roundup of market commentary. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery settled 2.1% higher at $90.03 a barrel, while Brent crude, the global benchmark, advanced 1.8% to $93.10.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that a secret U.S. mission has enabled more than 200 commercial ships to safely traverse the Strait of Hormuz, moving over 100 million barrels of oil onto the market since last month. He also said the U.S. would continue blocking ships in and out of Iranian ports until a deal is reached. Under normal conditions, about 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum products pass through the strait daily.
Iranian officials said they need to rethink the negotiation process and threatened a military response, according to the WSJ report. Robert Yawger of Mizuho said in a note that while the market largely shrugged off Tuesday’s U.S. retaliatory strikes, an escalation “would imply closer and closer to a forever war.” Arlan Suderman of StoneX noted that “the market has seen this kind of inflammatory rhetoric from both sides for over 100 days now, leading to less severe price reactions to such statements.” However, with continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and verbal exchanges between Israeli and Turkish leaders, Suderman said “the market’s fear of a broader regional conflict may be on the rise again.”
Despite the price increase, some analysts said the market was more focused on the possibility of an interim deal that could partially reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note that the market also appears to be pricing in “resiliency within world economies with a major oil spike having less impact on global growth than previously expected.”
The U.S. added 7.8 gigawatts of solar electricity generation capacity in the first quarter, including 5.9 gigawatts at utility scale, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Solar was the leading source of new power added to the grid. Utility-scale power-purchase contracts increased 15% year-over-year, fueled by technology companies securing power for AI-driven electricity demand. Texas remained the fastest-growing solar market, with Ohio moving into the top three states for deployment. However, Wood Mackenzie forecasts that U.S. solar additions will be flat over the next five years due to permitting bottlenecks. “The stakes are simply too high for Washington’s permitting gridlock to continue,” the SEIA said.
U.S. commercial crude stocks fell by 7.2 million barrels last week, a seventh consecutive weekly decline, the Energy Information Administration reported. Another 7.9 million barrels were released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Neil Crosby of Sparta Commodities said the U.S. oil export machine is “clearly unsustainable” and will slow as inventories empty and the SPR reaches historic lows.
Three months into the Iran conflict, rising energy prices continued to feed monthly inflation. Energy prices rose 3.9% last month, including a 7% increase in gasoline prices. Airline fares rose 2.7%, according to the WSJ.
Shell Chief Executive Wael Sawan said at the WSJ Leadership Institute CEO Summit that Europe has an opportunity to rethink its energy system after wars in Ukraine and the Middle East exposed its vulnerability to imported energy. Sawan said Europe suffers from higher electricity prices than the U.S. and China, which will hamper its ability to attract data centers. “The key challenge for Europe is how to build its energy system so it can keep pace in the AI race and avoid the deindustrialization of parts of its economy,” he said.
In other energy news, Gulf Development stands to benefit from Thailand’s upcoming power development plan, which could unlock 51 gigawatts of solar, 21 gigawatts of wind, and 6 gigawatts of gas-fired power contracts over the next decade, according to ttb wealth securities analyst Nuttapop Prasitsuksant. TotalEnergies saw its earnings-per-share expectations raised by Baader for 2026 and 2027 on higher oil and gas prices. TransAlta’s acquisition of Colorado gas plant assets was characterized by RBC analyst Maurice Choy as a low-risk move that strengthens the company’s long-term profile.