Red Sea Crisis Is Tightening Oil Markets

Disruptions to shipping in the Red Sea and via the Suez Canal are raising the prices of African and U.S. crude grades and expanding the backwardation in the global Brent crude benchmark, signaling tightening markets and a run-up in diesel prices in Europe.   Europe, which has been left exposed to more crude and fuel supplies from the Middle East and Asia since the embargoes on Russian petroleum took effect early last year, now finds itself looking for deliveries from nearby exporters. Growing volumes of petroleum products are now bypassing…