As tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to escalate, the crude oil market is under upward pressure, with benchmark futures prices having returned to above $80 per barrel. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright made it clear that, after completing the 172 million-barrel release plan announced in March, authorities have “no intention” of making further large-scale draws from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), and market expectations for a “policy safety net”—on which hopes had previously been pinned—are fading. Currently, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories have fallen to their lowest level since September 2018, and the national average retail price of gasoline has once again surpassed $4 per gallon.