finance
Oil Prices Fall Toward Weekly Loss Despite Iranian Strike and Persistently Low Hormuz Traffic
Brent crude traded at $73.78 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $70.53 on June 26. An Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz prompted a 2 percent price reversal but did not halt the traffic rebound. Earthquakes in Venezuela raised separate supply concerns.
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Oil prices moved lower on June 26 and headed for a weekly loss even after an Iranian strike on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. com reported. The strike, which Iran said targeted a vessel that used an unapproved route, produced a 2 percent reversal in prices but left the broader rebound in tanker traffic intact.
Tanker traffic through the strait has rebounded in recent days, OilPrice.com reported. Almost all current movements are outbound and consist of vessels that have been stranded since March, according to ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey. Vessel flows into the Gulf remain much more modest than outbound flows.
The International Maritime Organisation suspended its evacuation plan for stranded ships after the latest strike, the ING analysts noted. Reuters data showed that overall vessel traffic through the strait remains a fraction of the pre-war average of 125 ships per day. Devastating earthquakes struck Venezuela earlier this week and caused widespread power outages, OilPrice.com reported.
The outages are expected to disrupt the country’s oil production even though the oil infrastructure lies far from the areas hit hardest by the quakes.
