The oil market strengthened during the week owing to escalation in geopolitical tensions in Middle East as Israel attacked the Iranian consulate in Syria. The possibility of Iran retaliating against Israel and supply outages in Mexico supported the crude price. Further price support was from the strong jobs growth in the US along declines in US IEA crude inventories. At the same time, crude prices were supported by OPEC+ decision to maintain current oil output and the stated importance of improving compliance with production cuts. North Sea Dated crude’s weekly average increased by US$5.26/bbl, in the week ended 5th April. Our ex-RVO global composite refining margins contracted by US$0.69/bbl to US$7.08/bbl, owing to sharp decline in light distillates cracks in Asia, NWE and Middle East. Weekly margins were at US$1.91/bbl above the five-year historical average for the same week (excluding 2022).