Oil steady as investors focus on Hormuz flows after peace talks

BENGALURU/LONDON: Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday as investors watched crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz following progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks.

Brent crude futures were down 26 cents, or around 0.3%, to $77.64 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was down 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $73.69 a barrel at 1155 GMT.

Prices fell more than 3% on Monday after the United States granted Iran a 60-day sanctions waiver following initial peace talks, and as officials reported a lull in hostilities in Lebanon under a broader agreement.

Venezuelan, Russian and now Iranian crude is available to anyone looking to buy, said Ole Hvalbye, market analyst at SEB Research, highlighting that countries would be looking to stock up on crude to replenish stores.

In the short term, the easing of sanctions wouldn’t weigh on prices much, he added, as the U.S.-Iranian memorandum of understanding was still new and fragile.

Gold steady as investors focus on US-Iran peace talks

A limited number of vessels are being allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day under coordination with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Navy, an Iranian military source told Fars news agency on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said 19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the strait on Monday, and pointed to falling oil prices in a social media post on Tuesday.

The world has lost millions of barrels of oil and gas supply since the war closed the strait, a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies, for more than three months.

“Ship owners and operators will require assurances that the threats posed by mines have been fully eliminated. Damaged ports, debris in the water, and congestion present additional obstacles to an unconditional ramp-up in traffic,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates.

Iraq further increased output from its southern oilfields to around 2.1 million barrels per day as more tankers line up to load crude from its Gulf export terminals, two Iraqi oil officials told Reuters.

Rabobank cut its oil price forecasts, citing eased disruption risks in the Gulf, and now sees Brent at $79 a barrel in the third quarter and $78 in the fourth quarter.

Geopolitical risk persisted as Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Israeli forces opened fire on civilians in southern Lebanon on Tuesday and that the incident violated the ceasefire agreement between the two sides.