
800 ships race for Hormuz exit as ceasefire clock starts ticking
More than 800 vessels and 20,000 seafarers are trapped in the Persian Gulf with just two weeks to escape through a strait Iran still controls.
Latest news and analysis on oil, gas, and commodity markets

More than 800 vessels and 20,000 seafarers are trapped in the Persian Gulf with just two weeks to escape through a strait Iran still controls.

WTI crude collapsed from $116 to under $94 after Trump and Iran agreed to a Pakistan-brokered two-week ceasefire. Hormuz set to reopen conditionally.

Brent crude shed more than $5 from its intraday high as whispers of a 45-day ceasefire deal between Washington and Tehran ripped through trading desks hours before Trump's Tuesday deadline.

Trump set an 8pm ET deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran told its youth to form human chains around power plants. Oil hit $116.

With WTI near $114 and breakeven at $65, American producers are printing money. Continental Resources is first to ramp up. New supply is months away.

Slovenia caps fuel at 50 liters a day. Italy rations jet fuel at four airports. The Philippines just posted its 15th straight weekly diesel hike.

Israeli jets hit South Pars and Mahshahr in back-to-back strikes, halting 85% of Iran's petrochemical exports. Two IRGC commanders killed.

Tehran dismissed a 45-day truce brokered by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey. Trump extended his deadline to Tuesday 8pm, threatening strikes on power plants.

OPEC+ approved a second 206,000 barrel-per-day increase, this time for May. With the Strait of Hormuz still shut, the extra barrels exist only on paper.

The eight OPEC+ adjusters face their most consequential meeting since the alliance formed, with WTI at $111 and the Strait of Hormuz near shutdown.

An F-15E was shot down by Iranian forces on Thursday, the first US aircraft lost to enemy fire in the war. One crew member rescued, one missing.