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First Look - Oil prices climb despite the latest tariffs announcement

WTI crude rose to $72 a barrel Monday morning after consecutive weekly declines as the market continues to assess the fallout from a potential trade war
- President Trump announced more tariffs on Sunday, this time on aluminum and steel, which would apply to all countries
- American oil drillers reliant on special imported steel could feel some of the ripples from these aluminum and steel tariffs
OPEC producers raise oil prices on Russian sanctions (BBG)
- U.S. sanctions on Russian oil and potential tighter sanctions on Iran have driven up demand for Middle Eastern crude, with Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE implementing the largest price hikes in years.
- Iraq raised Basrah Medium crude by $2.60/Bbl to a $2.65 premium over the regional benchmark, while Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude climbed $7/Bbl to $80.22 for March delivery. Omani crude saw a similar increase.
  - This follows Saudi Arabia raising prices on its flagship Arab Light crude, the largest hike since August 2022

Natural gas is trading higher, extending gains from last week
- The prompt contract is about 9c higher to $3.40/MMbtu following colder weather forecast shifts as of 8:00 AM
- The Midwest and South Central regions saw forecasts shift colder, although the Northeast region’s forecast warmed
- Gas prices in Europe have reached a two-year high as storage levels drawdown, although US markets should not be affected by this as the LNG arbitrage was already open
Energy Transfer to supply gas to data center (BBG)
- ET has entered into a long-term agreement with CloudBurst to supply natural gas for power generation at a data center project in central Texas
- Enough supply to generate 1.2 GW of electricity will be needed, with the deal calling for ET to provide up to 450k MMbtu/d of firm supply from its Oasis pipeline
- While electricity demand will continue to grow, much of the growth may be served by renewables, with gas demand potentially staying flat or even declining as some forecasters see