(Bloomberg) — Oil fell below $100, heading for its longest run of declines since June, as robust flows through the Strait of Hormuz and diplomacy around the US-Iran war tamed a recent rally.
Brent, the global benchmark, fell as much as 4.8% while West Texas Intermediate futures were down over 6% to trade near $95 a barrel. Satellite data showed that Saudi Arabia’s observed oil loadings from inside the Persian Gulf jumped over the weekend, with the highest number of ships seen at the nation’s main Persian Gulf port since June. It’s a sign the kingdom has pivoted back toward Hormuz after the shutdown of a key cross-country pipeline to the Red Sea earlier this month followng drone attacks.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump told Fox News he would “probably” be open to meeting his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Trump will also hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and may meet leaders of Persian Gulf nations. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for its part, said it has prepared itself for a protracted war, state media reported.
Pakistan’s interior minister held talks in Tehran with his Iranian counterpart on efforts to advance the peace process in the region, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reports.
The Iran conflict, launced by the US and Israel in late February, upended global energy markets, while the Russia-Ukraine war has added to the pressure. Crude is up more than 65% this year.
Diesel remains at the epicenter of the global fuels crunch, notching a fresh high over $6.50 a gallon at US pumps. Diesel futures are down more than 4% and gasoline futures are down about 2% on Monday.
Crude and liquefied natural gas flows through Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, are running at a six-month high in the past two weeks, according to Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command. About 32 ships a day have crossed Hormuz with US assistance from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations, a naval group that liaises between the military and merchant shipping in the region.
“Focus has shifted to improving oil and LNG flows through Hormuz and the possibility of diplomatic progress on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at A/S Global Risk Management. “The worst pressure on crude may be easing.”
Supply risks remain in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia issued air-raid alerts for Riyadh over the weekend — the first in the capital since the height of the US-Iran war in March and April — as well as warnings in Red Sea hubs including Yanbu. The kingdom has been facing threats from Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen
Libya’s largest oil field also reduced output by more than half after a pipeline in the country was shut, people with knowledge of the matter said. The reason for the stoppage wasn’t immediately clear.
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