Oil Prices Dip Amid OPEC Uncertainty, Bakken Differential Holds at -$3.42
WTI falls below $70 as reports of potential Iraqi exit from OPEC and recovering Gulf flows weigh on sentiment, while North Dakota crude trades at a discount.
Front-month WTI crude futures fell 0.63% to trade at $69.90 per barrel on Thursday, June 25, 2026, according to live price data. Brent crude declined 0.54% to $73.47. The spot price for Bakken crude at the Clearbrook, Minnesota, hub was at a discount of $3.42 per barrel versus WTI.
The downward pressure on benchmarks is being driven by reports of potential new supply and recovering trade flows in the Persian Gulf. According to OilPrice.com, Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer, is considering exiting the cartel if it cannot secure a higher production quota. Sources told local outlet Shafaq that any decision could follow Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's visit to Washington in mid-July. An Iraqi exit would follow the United Arab Emirates' withdrawal from OPEC on May 1, 2026, and further threaten the group's ability to manage global supply.
Simultaneously, oil trade in the Gulf is showing signs of recovery, according to a separate OilPrice.com report. Qatar recently signed a deal to sell Al-Shaheen crude to a Taiwanese refiner, following a similar sale to an Indian refiner last week. This has contributed to a significant drop in oil futures prices but a massive spike in tanker rates, with some Very Large Crude Carrier earnings near $470,000 per day.
For Bakken operators, the lower headline prices and steady differential present a stable but constrained revenue environment. A discount near $3.50 is within a typical historical range, but the sub-$70 WTI price puts pressure on wellhead economics. The specter of additional OPEC volatility and increased global supply, as suggested by the Iraq report, could cap significant price rallies in the near term, influencing drilling and completion budgets in the Williston Basin.
In the United States, political pressure on oil companies continues. President Donald Trump has singled out Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP, accusing them of price gouging as retail gasoline prices lag the drop in crude, according to OilPrice.com. The national average for regular gasoline was $3.928 per gallon as of Wednesday. The American Petroleum Institute responded that retail fuel prices "don't move in lockstep with crude oil."
Meanwhile, natural gas prices showed modest strength, rising $0.04 to $3.31 per MMBtu.
Source
Live Price Data, OilPrice.com (Iraq Could Quit OPEC in Bid to Pump More Oil; Trump Singles Out Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP Over High Gas Prices; Qatar Signs Crude Deal With Taiwan as Gulf Oil Trade Recovers)
