Oil prices increased post a report that the US and Iran have decided to stop attacking the other post a flare-up that witnessed a supertanker carrying Qatari crude oil being hit near Strait of Hormuz.
Brent was up 1.9% at $73.39 a barrel, before it paired some gains. Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate was close to $70 a barrel.
Among tit-for-tat assaults over the weekend, the US struck Iranian military targets after Tehran attacked the vessel near the critical waterway. Meanwhile, the two sides have agreed to meet on Tuesday in Doha, Axios reported, citing unidentified US officials.
The Kiku — the hit very large crude carrier that was carrying about 2 million barrels of oil — last signaled its location off Fujairah, a United Arab Emirates port in the Gulf of Oman. Oil and natural gas shipments through the strait — which had picked up again following the interim agreement between the sides — eased following the latest flare-up.
While traffic had increased and the US Central Command said on Saturday that commercial vessel transit through the strait continued, some tankers have aborted exit attempts. Shipowners will likely remain wary of crossing the chokepoint as hundreds of ships remain trapped in the Persian Gulf.
During the weekend’s tensions, a Saudi Aramco-operated helicopter crashed in Ras Tanura — Saudi Arabia’s energy heartland — near the Persian Gulf coast, the country’s press agency said, without elaborating on the cause of the crash. It wasn’t immediately clear if the incident on Sunday affected any energy facilities.
Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the country faces fuel supply problems including queues at gas stations. He confirmed that a full ban on diesel exports is among measures under discussion to mitigate supply tightness.
With inputs from Bloomberg