2026-04-09T18:27:13+00:00
font
Enable Reading Mode
A-
A
A+
Shafaq News
Oil prices pared gains to rise about 1% on Thursday after
Israel said it would start direct negotiations with Lebanon as soon as
possible.
Doubts over the durability of a two-week Middle East
ceasefire raised concerns about continued restrictions on energy flows through
the Strait of Hormuz, sending prices up more than 5% earlier in the session.
Those gains were later erased after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said he had given instructions for Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon
that would also include the disarming of Hezbollah.
Brent crude futures were up 90 cents, or 1% at $95.65 a
barrel at 12:58 p.m. ET (1658 GMT), easing from a high of $99.50 earlier in the
session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also pared gains, rising $3
or 3.2% at $97.39, after hitting a session high of $102.70.
Both benchmarks fell below $100 per
barrel in the previous trading session, with WTI recording its biggest decline
since April 2020, on optimism that the ceasefire would result
in a reopening of the strait.
Israel, however, bombed more targets in Lebanon on Thursday,
putting the ceasefire in jeopardy after its biggest attacks of the war on its
neighbor killed more than 250 people and threatened to torpedo Donald Trump’s
truce from the outset.
Questions also lingered over the effectiveness of the
ceasefire as ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to well below 10%
of normal volumes on Thursday after Iran asserted control by warning vessels to
remain within its territorial waters and prices for some physical oil grades
hit fresh.
The Hormuz waterway connects supply from Gulf producers such
as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar to global markets, and typically
carries about 20% of global oil and gas supply.
“Crude futures are taking back some of (Wednesday’s)
losses as the Strait of Hormuz remains with just a small fraction of traffic,
much less than the market anticipated (Wednesday),” said Dennis Kissler,
senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial.
“The ceasefire agreements are in question as Israel had
continued to strike Lebanon and Vice President Vance is en route to the Middle
East to continue the talks,” Kissler added.
RISKS WON’T DISAPPEAR OVERNIGHT
“Even if shipments resume, the risks won’t disappear
overnight,” said Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth
Club. “Tankers may be forced to navigate mined waters and a heightened
military presence, all of which will keep insurance premiums high and freight
costs elevated.”
Shippers on Wednesday said they needed clarity on terms of
the ceasefire before resuming transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has
issued maps to guide ships around mines and showing safe paths for passage,
Iranian media reported.
Regional oil facilities remain under threat, with Iran
striking sites in nearby countries after the ceasefire, including a pipeline in
Saudi Arabia that has been used to bypass the blockaded
waterway, according to an oil industry source.
Crude loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu have
continued despite an Iranian on Wednesday on the country’s East-West Pipeline,
sources at two buyers from the port and a third trading source told Reuters on
Thursday.
Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE also reported
missile and drone attacks by Iran.
The ceasefire led Goldman Sachs to trim its second‑quarter
2026 forecasts for Brent and U.S. crude to $90 and
$87 a barrel, respectively, from previous forecasts that Brent and West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) oil prices would average $99 and $91 a barrel, respectively.
(Reuters)
Only the headline is edited by Shafaq News Agency.
