Economy
Crude Oil Market Mixed on Fresh Strait of Hormuz Reopening Hopes
By Adedapo Adesanya
The crude oil market was mixed on Wednesday as investors weighed revived expectations of a de-escalation in United States-Iran hostilities.
Brent crude futures gained 9 cents or 0.11 per cent to trade at $79.45 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 55 cents or 0.73 per cent to $75.22 per barrel.
US President Donald Trump previously said there was an “all-day negotiation” with Iran, characterizing the talks positively while also threatening to hit the country “really hard” if a deal was not reached.
Meanwhile, Iran denied that peace talks were under way. Its Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Iran and Oman have reached an understanding on how to manage the Strait of Hormuz.
It was reported that the decision was awaiting a decision from Iran’s supreme leader after Iranian and Omani negotiators completed a draft agreement that could reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the main export route for Persian Gulf oil and LNG. Also, a joint announcement is being finalized.
The proposed temporary arrangement would direct ships entering the Persian Gulf through waters controlled by Iran, while vessels leaving the Gulf would use a route administered by Oman. The agreement would revive parts of the US-Iran memorandum reached in June, which collapsed after attacks on shipping resumed.
Reuters reported that Iran is seeking payments equivalent to between 5 per cent and 7 per cent of cargo value, while Oman has proposed a 3 per cent charge.
However, the Trump administration has rejected any arrangement requiring ships to pay Iran for passage through what was an open international waterway before the war.
Crude stockpiles rose by 2.5 million barrels to 407 million barrels last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. Previously, the American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the US rose by 2.69 million barrels in the week ending July 30.
Apart from disruption in the Gulf, a surge in attacks on Russian and Ukrainian ships, ports and export terminals in the Black Sea is disrupting global commodity supplies.
Disruption has spread to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), the main export route for Kazakh crude oil, which has repeatedly suspended operations this week because of safety concerns and a lack of tankers.
