Several supply stories this week help explain why oil is high. OilPrice.com reported that the United States is offering another 17 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, one day after the International Energy Agency accelerated emergency stock releases as governments try to secure more crude and fuel.
Despite the price surge, US drillers did not add rigs. OilPrice.com, citing Baker Hughes data, said the total US rig count stayed unchanged at 603 this week.
Output falls elsewhere
OilPrice.com also reported that Equatorial Guinea’s crude production fell to just 20,000 barrels per day in September, down from about 140,000 in 2020, and that the country plans to approve a new hydrocarbon law on Monday. That is a small producer, but it shows how supply is shrinking in places that are not in the headlines.
Investing.com analysis pieces this week argued that the diesel crunch will persist into 2027 and that a global fuel oil shortage is deepening as Middle East and Russian supplies collapse. These are the authors’ views and we cite them as such.
Reading the signals
Emergency stock releases add supply in the short run but do not raise capacity. A flat rig count suggests that producers are not rushing to expand at current prices. Together with geopolitical disruption, this is consistent with the elevated price, but a causal link cannot be proved from these facts alone.
Live prices for WTI and Brent are on our oil page.