Oil prices pared early gains on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, as traders assessed the prospects for peace talks on the war in the Middle East.
Reuters reported that Brent blend fell towards $91 a barrel (steady at $91.45 for August contracts) after jumping about 2% at the start of the session.
While the West Texas Intermediate crude for July contracts approached $88.20 per barrel, this fluctuation coincided with the American Petroleum Institute (API) report released today, seen by Bloomberg, revealing a sharp decline in US crude oil inventories by 9.1 million barrels last week, the largest decline recorded since September, bringing available inventories to 4-month lows.
China's Strategy and Shock Containment
China, the world's largest oil importer, has begun effectively drawing on its trade reserves to contain the supply shock caused by the war on Iran.
Estimates from Vortexa, Kpler and Energy Aspects showed that Beijing would withdraw about 1 million barrels per day in the coming months (equivalent to a third of the quantities lost due to the blockade of Hormuz).
Data from Energy Aspects' Kairos satellite tracking unit revealed that China had already consumed about 25 million barrels of its reserves during the month ended June 7, with government refineries resorting to reducing operating rates to record lows and restricting fuel exports to ensure domestic supply.
Emma Li, Senior China Market Analyst at Vortexa, explained that China's transportation system has become structurally more resilient compared to previous oil shocks, noting that the rapid and exceptional expansion of the use of electric vehicles within the country has directly contributed to reducing demand for conventional fuels by about 1 million barrels per day during the current quarter, which explains the relatively limited reaction of global prices to what the International Energy Agency has described as "the biggest shock in the world." The history of the oil market," Brent crude has risen by less than a third since the conflict erupted thanks to a decline in Chinese imports.
Decline in gold and precious metals prices
The gold metal continued its sharp decline due to the recent military escalation, as the spot price of gold fell by 2% to fall below the level of $4175 per ounce (recording $4175.85 in today's Singapore trading) after an earlier loss of 1.6%, leaving the yellow metal currently trading less than a fifth of its price before the outbreak of the Iranian war last February.
In the same context, Standard Chartered's global head of commodity research, Suki Cooper, reported that gold's break of its 200-day moving average has stimulated broad institutional selling, confirming that the next technical support level stands at $4100, while silver recorded a decline of 2.3% to reach $63.86, amid a parallel decline in platinum and palladium and the stability of the Bloomberg Spot Dollar Index.