Oil Slides to Pre-War Lows Below $70 as Majors Prosper

Oil prices have fallen sharply to pre-war lows, with Brent down over 25% in a month to around $73.76 and WTI briefly below $70 after the Strait of Hormuz reopened. The drop follows the spring spike above $120 that triggered a 34% surge in European EV sales and prompted Goldman Sachs to warn of up to 0.32 million bpd in demand destruction by late 2027. Dallas Fed research showed the shock trimmed just 0.3 percentage points from U.S. GDP, while analysts flagged a permanent 200,000-600,000 bpd loss in Chinese crude demand. Storage expansion plans totaling one billion barrels offer a potential offset, and U.S. producers expect only 2-3% output growth at current prices.