Oil prices continue to grind lower, with ICE Brent settling a little over 1% lower yesterday. Positive signals from the Persian Gulf are fuelling optimism about oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Vessel crossings increased in recent days, although they remain well below pre-war levels. Estimates suggest that roughly 6-7m b/d of oil moved through the strait in recent days, which is still far below pre-war flows of around 20m b/d. However, with pipeline diversions for Saudi Arabia and the UAE, we only need to see oil flows through the strait return to around 14m b/d for oil supply from the Persian Gulf to return ... (full story)