LONDON, Aug 3 — Oil prices fell more than US$5 a barrel today after United States President Donald Trump held off on a fresh attack on Iran in the hope of sealing a quick deal, although Tehran said no talks were planned.
Brent crude futures were down US$4.49, or 5.11 per cent, to US$83.44 at 1315 GMT, having retraced some losses from a three-week low hit earlier in the session. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at US$79.28 a barrel, down US$5.39, or 6.37 per cent. Both benchmarks marked their biggest daily falls in absolute and percentage terms since July 27.
The two contracts jumped more than 20 per cent last month after fighting between the US and Iran resumed and attacks on several tankers around Oman heightened security concerns, deterring shippers from entering the Gulf to load oil.
Iran said today there were no talks underway with the US and no plans for any meetings, contradicting Trump who had cited talks he said would take place as justification for calling off attacks.
Can a deal happen?
“Given the persistent depletion of global oil inventories, we would expect firmer prices during August — unless, of course, oil flows in the region recover meaningfully and sustainably, while also keeping a watchful eye on signs of weakening demand. Under the current VVV trading conditions (volatile, vicious, and violent), the odds of getting it embarrassingly wrong are reasonably high,” said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
Six Saudi-flagged supertankers have changed course in the Gulf of Aden in recent days and are heading to southern Africa amid threats by Yemen’s Houthi movement to target Saudi shipping, ship-tracking data showed today.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations has reported three tanker attacks since Saturday.
Yesterday, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, approved an oil production quota increase of around 188,000 barrels per day (bpd) from September.
Export disruptions from the Gulf, Russia and Kazakhstan, caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars, have meant successive monthly OPEC+ hikes over most of this year have not translated into extra oil on the market.
Elsewhere, Kazakhstan’s crude oil and gas condensate production fell to about 1.85 million bpd, or 7.6 million metric tonnes, in July from 2.16 million bpd in June, an industry source familiar with operational data told Reuters.
The decline was linked to disruptions at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the main export route for Kazakh oil, the source said.
