Gold Sachs has warned of both upside and downside risks to its 2026 crude forecasts for Brent/WTI crude oil price outlook, due to uncertainty around Middle East developments and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. The bank estimates that reduced flows through Hormoz pose the biggest upside risk to Goldman's price forecasts, with estimated oil flows still at 10% of normal or 2.1 million budes per day. The United States Navy has begun a blockade on vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas, posing further upside risk. Goldman Sachs also noted that global visible oil inventories are drawing down at a slower pace, suggesting that a growing share of inventory draws are occurring in landed product stocks across non-OECD Asia.