NYMEX Overview: Petroleum Futures Climbing as Trump Renews Threats Against Iran — OPIS
Oil futures were trading higher late Thursday morning as hopes for a deal to end the conflict in the Middle East faded.
The NYMEX May West Texas Intermediate contract was up $3.78, or more than 4%, to $94.19/bbl at about 11 a.m. ET and the June WTI contract was $3.19 higher at $90.97/bbl. were close to daily highs at 11 a.m. ET after contracts had seen declines in two of the last three days.
The front-month Brent crude and refined product futures expire at the end of next week and most trading was focused on next-month contracts.
The ICE May Brent contract was up $5.78, or nearly 6%, in light trading to $108/bbl. June prices were $4.48 higher at $101.74/bbl.
ULSD futures were posting gains of 6.5%, and the NYMEX April ULSD contract was 26cts higher at $4.2663/gal, while the more-active May contract was up 26.02cts to $4.0707/gal.
Gasoline futures were trading about 3.5% higher. The April RBOB contract was up 10.56cts to $3.1180/gal and May RBOB was 10.8cts higher at $3.0682/gal.
Petroleum prices remain volatile as markets try to gauge the progress of efforts to end the fighting. Prices fell earlier this week after President Trump on Monday said he was postponing strikes against Iranian power plants for five days while U.S. and Iranian representatives met for talks. Iran, however, has denied such talks are occurring.
Trump on Thursday renewed his threats to strike Iran if the country didn't get serious about negotiations. The threat comes as reports indicate the U.S. is moving more troops to the region and Israel announced it had killed Iran's naval commander.
The recent moderation in crude oil price increases has slowed the rate of increases in U.S. retail fuel prices, which surged in the first three weeks of the conflict.
Still, the average U.S. retail gasoline price is on track to top the psychologically significant $4/gal mark, with the national average Thursday morning at $3.974/gal, according to OPIS data.
The average diesel price Thursday morning was at nearly $5.37/gal, the data showed.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
Reporting by Steven Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeffrey Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 26, 2026 12:29 ET (16:29 GMT)
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