Oil Down Another 6% on Selloff Over MidEast Peace Hopes


   
Barani Krishnan
DTN Refined Fuels Market Reporter

   SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) -- Energy markets extended their losses Tuesday (8/4) on 
growing outreach by the Trump administration and international negotiators to 
ending the U.S. war with Iran.

   Crude futures fell % or more, pulling diesel and gasoline prices sharply 
lower for a second day in a row on comments from U.S. President Donald Trump 
kept alive hopes alive for a settlement to the conflict.

   NYMEX WTI for September delivery settled down $4.57, or 5.7%, at $75.77. The 
U.S. crude benchmark fell 5% on Monday (8/3).

   ICE Brent for October delivery finished down $4.41, or 5.3%, at $79.36 bbl.  
The global crude benchmark lost 4.7% in the prior session.

   Among refined products, NYMEX ULSD futures for September closed down 
$0.1067, or 2.8%, at $ 3.7705 gallon.  It slid 6% on Monday.

   NYMEX September RBOB finished lower by $0.1445, or 4.9%, at $ 2.8522 gallon, 
extending the 8% tumble from the previous session.

   The US dollar index was little changed at 99.785 against a basket of 
currencies.

   Energy prices deepened their downward momentum on reports that Tehran has 
softened its public resistance to allowing European nations to conduct demining 
operations in the Strait of Hormuz. The move was viewed by diplomats see as a 
potential sweetener to normalizing transit on the waterway and easing a new 
peace deal with Washington.

   Broader de-escalation and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remain the 
primary focus for negotiators, said media reports citing Qatari officials 
acting as intermediaries between Washington and Tehran.

   A draft framework aimed at securing a short-term resolution was already in 
circulation among participating delegations, even as direct talks between the 
U.S. and Iran remained off the table, the reports added.

   Further south, Saudi Arabia was deploying Oman-mediated diplomacy to stave 
off a renewed clash with Yemen-based Houthi militants, in a bid to protect its 
Red Sea oil infrastructure from further damage.

   On the U.S. inventory front, traders await the American Petroleum 
Institute's reading on stockpiles of crude, gasoline and distillates for the 
week ended July 31.

   The report will land ahead of official inventory data for the same week due 
from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) at 10:30 a.m. ET on 
Wednesday (8/5).

   For the week ended July 24, the EIA reported that commercial crude oil 
inventories decreased by 7.2 million bbl to 404.5 million bbl and were 22.2 
million bbl, or 5.2%, below the same week last year.




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