Oil Prices Top $100 as Trump's Election Gambit Falls Short

The US midterm elections are just eight weeks away, but oil prices have already broken through the $100-per-barrel threshold, putting President Donald Trump and the Republican Party's election strategy in jeopardy.

Trump claimed that the war with Iran will end soon after the election and that oil prices will plummet to below $2 per gallon. However, energy markets are moving in the opposite direction due to persistent supply disruption concerns.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) raised its outlook for next year's average U.S. retail diesel price by 8.2%, from $4.07 to $4.40 per gallon, reflecting global supply shortages and low domestic inventory levels.

If the current pace of Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases continues, remaining reserves could be exhausted by late October, weakening the buffer effect on oil prices.