17JUN

Trump orders a DOJ oil-gouging probe

2 min read

10:21UTC

Trump ordered a Justice Department probe into oil-company gouging on 24 June, accusing firms of not cutting pump prices as Brent crude slid to $76.14.

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Key takeaway

Brent fell to $76.14 on a partial Hormuz recovery, and Trump blamed refiners for pump prices that have not followed.

Donald Trump ordered a Justice Department probe into oil-company "gouging" on 24 June, accusing firms of not cutting pump prices as Brent crude slid to $76.14, down from $77.08 the day before⁠¹. Brent is the benchmark that sets the price of roughly two-thirds of internationally traded oil, so its direction feeds quickly into petrol prices and the politics around them.

The decline extends the slide that began as Trump's peak Hormuz threats were priced out at $77.54 on 22 June. What the market is reading is the gradual return of tanker traffic following General License X and the IMO evacuation, with UAE oil exports rebounding to about 85 per cent of pre-conflict levels⁠².

The pricing runs ahead of the physical reality. Mines remain in the navigable channels and P&I war-risk cover is still withdrawn, so the strait is recovering for rescue and selective trade rather than reopening in full. Trump's gouging probe blames refiners for a gap between falling crude and steady pump prices that the incomplete reopening, not corporate conduct, largely explains.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

On 24 June, the price of Brent crude oil; the global benchmark used to set energy costs worldwide; fell to $76.14 per barrel. That is down from $77.08 the previous day and roughly 36% below its peak during the worst of the conflict. The UAE has largely restored its oil exports to about 85% of what they were before the fighting. President Trump ordered the US Justice Department to investigate oil companies for 'gouging'; charging customers too much at the pump even as wholesale prices fell. Brent's decline reflects growing confidence that more tankers are moving through the strait of Hormuz, though the strait is not fully open: mines still need to be cleared and shipping insurance has not fully returned.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Brent's move from $77.54 on 22 June to $76.14 on 24 June represents a 1.8% two-day decline, compressing the remaining war premium. At the conflict's Brent peak of approximately $120 (around 10 March), the premium was roughly $44/bbl above pre-conflict levels near $76. The market has now repriced almost the entire premium, implying traders expect the 60-day window to sustain even without mine clearance or full insurance return.

The UAE's 85% export recovery is a particularly significant indicator: the UAE, unlike Iran, is not under sanctions and its export recovery depends purely on logistics (transit availability and insurance). An 85% recovery with insurance still restricted suggests tankers are self-insuring short voyages through Omani territorial waters rather than the full Hormuz channel; a route that limits cargo size to vessels small enough for the Oman corridor.

Sources:Trading Economics

Mentions:Donald Trump →Department of Justice →Brent Crude →Strait of Hormuz →General License X →United Arab Emirates (UAE) →

First Reported In

Update #137 · Iran and Oman claim the strait; US says no

Trading Economics· 24 Jun 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

Brent falls through Trump's war talk

Brent's further slide to $76.14 extends the pricing-out of war premium that began at $77.54 on 22 June.

Occurred 22 Jun 2026

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This Event

Trump orders a DOJ oil-gouging probe

The market is pricing in a Hormuz reopening that mines and absent insurance have not actually delivered.

Led to

Brent falls below its pre-war level

Brent fell from $76.14 on 24 June (ID:4468) to $72.64-$73.72 on 25 June, erasing the war premium across two sessions.

Occurred 25 Jun 2026

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Brent falls straight through the strikes

Brent fell from $76.14 on 24 June to $71.99 on 26 June, a 5.4 per cent decline through the IRGC attack and CENTCOM counter-strike, continuing the post-24 June downtrend.

Occurred 26 Jun 2026

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The sanctions that need no signature

Trump's DOJ oil-gouging probe sits alongside Economic Fury as motion not requiring settling the war.

Occurred 1 Jul 2026

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Different Perspectives

French Football Federation

The FFF called an 11:00 CEST press conference for 28 July, at its Paris headquarters, following an extraordinary executive committee meeting, at which Zinedine Zidane is expected to be presented as head coach succeeding Didier Deschamps. As of this writing no communique confirms the appointment, contract length or start date.

Morocco

Morocco is pushing for the 2030 final at its Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca, a planned 115,000-seat venue that would be the world's largest football stadium on completion. The venue is contested by a Spanish petition for the Santiago Bernabeu, and FIFA has fixed neither the venue nor the tournament's proposed 64-team format.

FIFA

FIFA's first tournament report, published 27 July, itemises nearly 300,000 accredited personnel, 73,700 security staff and 300,000 square metres of custom-grown turf, with no revenue or cost figure attached. As a Swiss association answering to its own Congress rather than a treasury, FIFA has followed the same operational-before-financial sequence it used after Qatar 2022.

Javier Tebas / La Liga

La Liga president Javier Tebas said on 21 July that FIFA's system is rotten from the root and that Gianni Infantino's time as president has, in his words, concluded. Tebas has no vote in FIFA's process, so days after the IOC declined jurisdiction over a separate ethics complaint, he used the only instrument he has.

Mexico City government

Head of government Clara Brugada presented a closing report on 22 July crediting the tournament with 44 billion pesos of economic activity, 2,000-plus accelerated public works and 100,000 formal jobs in June alone. The city has not published the method behind that figure, and three other Mexican bodies count the same five weeks differently.

Town of Foxborough

Foxborough answered Kraft Group's June lawsuit on 7 July with a 61-page counterclaim, calling the stadium's owners 'a collection of multibillion-dollar corporations' trying to shift its $7.8 million security bill onto taxpayers. The town says its licensing power and its billing power run through the same board, and it wants the court to award its own costs too.