US heating oil futures hovered around $4.26 per gallon, holding most of the previous session’s gains as supply concerns deepened amid mounting geopolitical risks. Diplomatic efforts between the US and Iran remained at an impasse after Washington ruled out reviving the terms of a June agreement and confirmed it is not currently engaged in negotiations with Tehran. Instead, the US has stepped up pressure by imposing new sanctions earlier this week, measures that Iran denounced as hostile and ineffective.
At the same time, risks to Black Sea shipments have increased as Russia considers escalating military pressure on Ukraine after concluding that peace talks have reached a dead end. Concurrently, strikes on Russian refineries have curtailed refining capacity, further amplifying regional fuel supply concerns.
In the US, EIA data showed that distillate inventories fell by 2.2 million barrels last week, exceeding expectations for a 1.6 million-barrel decline and underscoring the tightness in stocks.
