Texas oil falls nearly 12% after reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

New York.- West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell this Friday by 11.45%, to $83.85 a barrel, after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi announced the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. At the end of the session, WTI futures contracts for May, the benchmark in the U.S., fell $10.84 compared to the previous day, when the price of crude oil closed above $90 a barrel. In the weekly accumulated, WTI has lost $12.72 per barrel, equivalent to 13.2%, in a week marked by the easing of geopolitical tensions after the announcement of the ceasefire and the reopening of the strait.

On Monday, March 2, in its first session after the start of the US and Israeli offensive against Iran, oil closed at $71.23 per barrel, 15.1% less than today’s closing. 

Araqchi affirmed this Friday that the Strait of Hormuz will remain “fully open” until the end of the ceasefire with the United States next Wednesday, after the beginning of the truce in Lebanon.

Negotiations with Iran

According to Iranian media, the reopening has three conditions: ships must coordinate their passage with Iranian forces, transit through the indicated route, and have no ties with enemy countries, namely the United States and Israel. However, the Fars and Tasnim agencies, both linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, stressed that if the US maritime blockade is maintained, transit through the Strait of Hormuz will be closed again. The cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel was announced yesterday by US President Donald Trump, after holding phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. The leader said today in an interview with Axios that he hopes to reach an agreement with Iran to end the war “within a day or two”. For its part, the United States Central Command (Centcom) indicated this Friday that it has prevented the passage of a total of 19 ships since the naval blockade of Iran began this week. The blockage of this route has disrupted the flow of about 13 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to ING analysts.