Crude closes at its 3rd-highest level of the war as market braces for pre-or-post-midterm escalation, while timespreads are beginning to signal a pullback in immediate supply tightness.

Oil market re-tightened in August, continuing to aggressively draw global stocks and maintaining high prices despite the lurching, uneven, and at risk recovery in Middle Eastern exports.

Political risk premium returns as crude prices rise toward Iran War highs and buyers grab what they can before a feared re-escalation; Chinese imports have tentatively recovered alongside Gulf exports