The front-month U.S. oil futures contract was on track Friday to end the day below $70/bbl for the first time since early March as crude and refined product futures were seeing solid losses to start the day.
Petroleum futures are likely to end the week sharply lower as a number of oil tankers have exited the Strait of Hormuz following last week's signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran.
The NYMEX August West Texas Intermediate crude contract was down $3.06 to $68.86/bbl at about 11:40 a.m. ET, putting the contract on track to end the session below $70/bbl. If that occurs, it would be the first time since March 3 that the front-month contract has settled below that mark. September WTI prices were down $2.90 to $68.62/bbl.
Brent crude was seeing even steeper losses, with the August ICE Brent contract sinking by $3.47 to $71.90/bbl and September prices falling by $3.08 to $72.42/bbl.
Refined product contracts were seeing proportionally similar declines, with the July ULSD contract down 7.92cts to $3.219/gal and August prices cut by 9.98cts to $3.1094/gal.
