Shafaq News
Oil prices rose on Wednesday on concerns breakdowns indiscussions between Iran and the U.S. for a final agreement to end their warmay extend supply disruptions in the key Middle East producing region.
Brent futures rose 33 cents, or 0.45%, to $73.28 a barrel at0339 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 34 cents, or0.49%, to $69.84 a barrel.
"Hormuz continues to reopen but it's patchy,unpredictable, and not fully transparent ... Unless there is a freshunderstanding between Washington and Tehran, the market may wait and watch for sustained peace and quietbefore crude resumes bearish momentum," said Vandana Hari, founder of oilmarket analysis provider Vanda Insights.
U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner andenvoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha for what the White House described as"high level" talks on Tuesday, but Iran and host Qatar said theywould meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves.
Qatar said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahmanal-Thani was among those to Witkoff and Kushner.
Brent fell by around $45 a barrel between the first andsecond quarters of this year, its largest quarterly loss since 2008 during thefinancial crisis. U.S. crude futures meanwhile fell by around $31, theirlargest quarterly loss since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic crushed global oil demand.
The declines followed progress toward ending the Middle Eastconflict, pulling back from the sharp gains triggered earlier by thehostilities.
Analysts have cut their 2026 oil price forecasts, tab forthe first time since the Iran war began, after five straight monthly increases,as the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz eased concerns over prolonged supplydisruptions, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
U.S. VicePresident JD Vance said Iran would be prevented from charging tolls through thestrait, telling The Michael Knowles Show, "This is not going to end in aplace where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships going through the Straitof Hormuz."
Tanker traffic through the criticalwaterway has started to recover, with Vance claiming that oil flows through thestrait had been restored to pre-war levels.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories fell again last weekwhile gasoline stocks also declined, market sources said, citing data from the American Petroleum Institutereleased on Tuesday.
Crude stocks fell by 6.1 million barrels in the week endedJune 26, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Official U.S. oil stock data from the Energy InformationAdministration will be released at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
(REUTERS)
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