SINGAPORE: Oil prices fell slightly on Wednesday as investors gauged the impact of a US-Iran peace deal, while uncertainty over full resumption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz limited price declines.
Both benchmarks were down about 0.2 percent by 09:30 a.m. Saudi time, with Brent crude futures dipping 15 cents to $78.81 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate falling 12 cents to $75.93 a barrel.
On Tuesday both had fallen about 5 percent for a second straight session to hit three-month lows, fuelled by hopes that a US-Iran deal would allow oil flows through the Strait.
“Markets are broadly stripping out the embedded geopolitical risk premium in oil prices,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.
“That said, the path toward normalisation remains far from straightforward. While political agreements may be progressing, physical tanker traffic through the Strait has yet to fully recover.”
