WTI Peaks at $77;  ULSD Futures Reach over 4-Year High

SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) – Crude and refined product futures extended their multi-month highs Tuesday (3/3) as U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that he was in no hurry to end the war in Iran, which has already sidelined millions of bbl of global supply.

At Tuesday’s close, NYMEX WTI crude futures for April delivery settled up $3.33 bbl at $74.56, rising by 5% after the 6% rally the day before. The session peak was $77.98 bbl, the highest since January 2025.

ICE Brent crude for May delivery closed up $3.66, or nearly 5%, at $81.40 bbl, after a 20-month high of $85.12.

Among refined products, RBOB futures for April delivery settled up $0.0868 at $2.4574 gallon, setting a 20-month high of $ 2.5328 earlier.

ULSD futures for April closed up $0.2865 at $3.1869 gallon, after scaling  $ 3.3692 earlier, for its highest since December 2022.

A nine-week high in the dollar, however, made crude priced in the greenback costlier for users of other currencies, tempering some of the upside in oil. The dollar typically turns into a safe-haven in times of war.  The U.S. dollar index advanced by 0.763 points to 99.10 against a basket of foreign currencies, after hitting a session peak of 99.68, its highest since late December.

The oil futures market rallied on for the second consecutive session amid the intensification of Middle East conflict.

“We have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons,” Trump posted on social media as U.S. and Israel artillery continued to pound Iran. “Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”

A day earlier, Trump set a potential timeline of four to five weeks for the conflict in Iran. Reports on Tuesday also said the U.S. was open to supporting groups in Iraq willing to take up arms to dislodge Iran’s regime.

The Strait of Hormuz remained all but idle on Tuesday as Iran warned oil tankers to stay off the waterway that served a fifth of the world’s seaborne petroleum trade. The warning came after at least five commercial vessels were struck by Iranian missiles in the Hormuz. Hundreds of tankers were reported stranded on both sides of the strait, driving to record highs charter rates for the tankers that carry crude and fuel oil.

Trump, in another social media post Tuesday, announced that the U.S. was prepared to shield tankers that needed to cross the waterway. “If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said, pledging U.S. support to ensure free flow of energy.

Vessels aside, Iran targeted Israel and U.S. military bases with proximity to its drones, after a weekend of strikes that also shuttered oil production in northern Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Ten nations in the region have so far suffered attacks from Iran’s retaliation against regional U.S. allies, raising concerns that a drawn-out conflict will continue to hit essential crude exports.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) held an emergency meeting in Paris on Tuesday, saying it was in a “monitor and ready” stance over the deployment of its strategic oil reserves, estimated at some 1.2 million bbl. Prior to the war in Iran, the IEA had projected a global crude surplus of 3.7 million bbl this year. 

The oil market will also get later on Tuesday its first U.S. weekly inventory data since the breakout of the war in Iran. The American Petroleum Institute’s report on stockpiles for the week ended February 27 will be followed through with Wednesday’s (3/4) inventory tally by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for the same period. Traders are expected to maintain the crude imports number in the EIA data as a high watermark for the coming weeks given the tanker disruptions on the Hormuz.