By Giulia Petroni

Here’s a look at what happened in oil markets in the week of Feb. 2-6 and what the focus will be in the days to come.

OVERVIEW: Oil prices are on track for their first weekly decline in more than a month. Brent crude traded around $68 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was at $63 a barrel in afternoon European trading as investors monitor developments in the Middle East following talks between U.S. and Iranian officials.

MACRO: Wall Street is ending the week on a high note, with bargain-hunting pushing gains across tech and cryptocurrency markets. Meanwhile, the latest U.S. data showed consumer sentiment ticked higher in February, according to a preliminary reading from the University of Michigan’s monthly survey, signaling that the economic mood is improving despite concerns about inflation and the job market.

GEOPOLITICAL RISKS: Iran stuck to its refusal to end enrichment of nuclear fuel in talks Friday between senior U.S. and Iranian officials, but signaled a willingness to keep working toward a diplomatic solution that could head off an American strike.

Markets, however, remain on edge as any potential escalation between the U.S. and Iran could disrupt energy flows in the oil-rich region, with traders saying the biggest concerns involve potential U.S. strikes against Iranian oil infrastructure or disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND: Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia cut the price of its crude for Asian buyers for the fourth consecutive month, signaling further caution as concerns that global supply will outstrip demand continue to weigh on global markets. The official selling price for March loadings of Saudi Aramco’s flagship Arab Light crude to Asia–the largest destination for Middle Eastern crude–was set at parity with the Oman/Dubai average, down from a premium of $0.30 a barrel in February.

The latest Energy Information Administration data showed crude stocks fell by 3.5 million barrels last week as winter storm Fern partially offset a rise in imports.

WHAT’S AHEAD: Investors will be closely watching a packed macro calendar next week, including speeches from Federal Reserve officials, U.S. retail sales, the employment report, jobless claims, and the consumer price index. Delayed jobs and inflation data will be key in assessing when the Fed may cut interest rates again.

Later in the week, attention will turn to oil market updates from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, the International Energy Agency and the EIA.

The recent cold snap is expected to prompt upward revisions to global oil demand forecasts for the year, while production estimates may be lowered due to numerous outages, according to Commerzbank analysts.

“All in all, the oversupply in the oil market at the beginning of the year is likely to have been significantly lower than previously expected,” they said. “However, we fundamentally stand by our assessment that oversupply will cause prices to fall over the course of the year. After all, the production outages are only temporary and OPEC+ is likely to further increase production from April onwards.”

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 06, 2026 12:47 ET (17:47 GMT)

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