Crude oil futures contracts fell about $1 at midday Thursday, weighed down by pre-holiday selling ahead of the long U.S. Independence Day weekend. The declines come amid ongoing peace talks between Washington and Iran in a bid to restart critical Middle East oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
At 11:45 p.m. ET, the August NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude contract was down around 95cts to $67.65/bbl, and September WTI was about 90cts lower to $67.60/bbl.
London-based September ICE Brent crude futures were down about 90cts to $70.65/bbl and October Brent was around 85cts lower to $71.15/bbl.
The price differential between WTI and Brent widened slightly to around $4/bbl, which was still sharply lower than the almost $15/bbl spread seen in mid-March, reflecting the significantly lower geopolitical risk premium related to the Middle East conflicts.
August NYMEX RBOB was down around 6.15cts to $2.8840/gal and September RBOB was 6.15cts lower to $2.7120/gal. August NYMEX ULSD was 4.30cts lower to $3.1750/gal and September ULSD was down 3.85cts to $3.1165/gal.
