Oil prices extended their weekly losses on Wednesday, trading near four-month lows as signals grew that tankers stranded in the Gulf since the Iran conflict began are resuming passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $76.71 a barrel by 0043 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate dropped 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.85. Both benchmarks had already shed around 1% on Tuesday, touching their lowest levels since early March.
The pressure this week stems from two developments: Washington granted Tehran a 60-day sanctions exemption following initial talks, allowing Iran to resume oil sales, and fighting in Lebanon has visibly eased.
“Crude oil prices have been negatively impacted by hopes for eased US-Iran tensions and a recovery in oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz,” said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting. He added that further progress in nuclear negotiations could push prices back to pre-war levels.
Ship-tracking data showed three supertankers that had been stranded in the Gulf crossed the strait on Tuesday. The UN’s International Maritime Organization said it had launched an evacuation plan to help around 11,000 seafarers stuck on vessels in the Gulf pass through Hormuz following the US-Iran ceasefire agreement.
An Iranian military source told the Fars news agency that passage through the strait is currently permitted to a limited number of vessels daily, in coordination with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy.
Oman and Iran also agreed on Tuesday to advance discussions on the future management of navigation through Hormuz. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said any Iranian attempt to impose transit fees would constitute a violation of international law.
Uncertainty remains over the durability of any agreement. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Iran had accepted nuclear inspections “indefinitely,” while Tehran denied making any such concession during the negotiations.
Investors are also watching how quickly Middle Eastern producers can resume export operations and whether additional vessels will enter the region. US crude inventory data added a separate signal: American Petroleum Institute figures showed stockpiles fell by 765,000 barrels in the week ending June 19, well below the average analyst forecast of a 4.5 million barrel draw in a Reuters poll of nine analysts.
