Crude oil and refined product futures prices were rising Monday, with gains accelerating during the morning as markets reacted to the renewal of fighting between the U.S. and Iran.
U.S. crude prices were up by about 1.8% at 11 a.m. ET, with the August West Texas Intermediate crude contract ahead by $1.10 to $70.33/bbl, about 60cts off the day's high. September WTI was up by $1.04 to $69.97/bbl.
Brent crude gains were more muted, with the lightly traded August contract rising by 74cts to $72.73/bbl as it heads toward expiration at the end of the month. The more-active September contract was 93cts higher to $73.63/bbl. Brent prices are about 40cts off the session's high so far.
Most activity in refined product futures was also focused on the next-month contracts ULSD futures were seeing gains of about 2.6%, with the July ULSD contract trading 8.46cts higher to $3.2928/gal while the more-active August contract was climbing by 8cts to $3.1822/gal.
RBOB futures were also trading about 2.6% higher, with July prices rising by 7.76cts to $3.0347/gal in light trade and August RBOB advancing by 7.02cts to $2.8961/gal.
