Crude oil slid more than 4% toward $86 per barrel on Thursday, its lowest level since April, after President Trump called off planned strikes on Iran that had been scheduled for the evening. He also signaled that Washington and Tehran were close to an agreement to end the war. Trump later told reporters that a deal — potentially including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — could be signed as early as this weekend, likely in Europe.
Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that Tehran is likely to approve the agreement, although it has yet to issue a formal response. Thus far, oil infrastructure has been largely untouched, helping to avert the kind of supply shock many traders had feared and keeping prices well below their earlier wartime peaks.
On the demand side, Chinese imports of Saudi crude are expected to decline in July, even as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has increased.
