Why Oil Prices Moved Today
The oil market is currently being pulled in two directions at once. On one side, OPEC cut its 2026 global oil demand growth forecast to 580,000 barrels per day – its fourth consecutive downward revision – while the IEA turned more bearish still, forecasting global oil consumption will contract this year, according to Trading Economics reporting on 13 August 2026. US crude inventories also jumped by 17.4 million barrels in the latest week, the largest increase since January 2023.
On the other side, the unresolved conflict around the Strait of Hormuz continues to threaten supply. The US has estimated that as much as 9 million barrels of oil per day are still transiting the waterway despite the disruption, and some tankers have reportedly been sailing with transponders switched off, though vessels navigating Hormuz remain exposed to persistent threats. For now, demand-side concerns appear to have the upper hand, but traders remain highly sensitive to any shift in the diplomatic picture, according to Trading Economics.
As with any fast-moving commodity story, exact prices vary by source and by the moment a quote is taken – some trackers had Brent nearer $90.28 a barrel earlier the same morning before the afternoon decline, and WTI has been quoted as low as $81 and as high as $82 across different reports on the same day. Traders should always check a live quote rather than relying on a single article for a dealing decision.
