Oil prices fall: Investors watch tensions and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz

Oil prices continued to fall today. Progress has been made in peace talks between the United States and Iran, and investors are watching oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. At around 17:00 CEST, the price of North Sea Brent crude was down 1,3 percent at 76,91 dollars a barrel. US light crude WTI was down 1,2 percent at the same time, trading at 72,97 dollars a barrel.

Prices fell by more than three percent on Monday after the US granted Iran a 60-day waiver from sanctions following initial peace talks, and officials announced that fighting in Lebanon had eased as part of a broader agreement. Oman and Iran agreed today to continue talks on the future management of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, including maritime services.

A limited number of ships can now pass through the strait each day in coordination with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, an Iranian military source told Fars. Today, these included two supertankers that had been stranded there, while data on vessel tracking show that seven empty liquefied natural gas tankers linked to Qatar have entered the strait in recent weeks. This is the first sign that gas shipments from the region could resume.

Iraq has further increased production from its southern fields to around 2,1 million barrels a day. More tankers are queuing at its export terminals in the Persian Gulf to load oil, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters.

Rabobank cut its oil price forecast, citing a lower risk of supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf. It now expects Brent crude to average 79 USD a barrel in the third quarter and 78 USD a barrel in the fourth quarter.

Oil prices in dollars per barrel (about 159 litres)