Crude and refined product contracts were a mixed bag midday Wednesday, as theoil market awaited a possible deal between U.S. and Iran to restart oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
At 11:55 a.m. ET, September NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down around 30cts to $75.45/bbl and October WTI was 20cts lower to $74.20/bbl.
London-based October ICE Brent, however, was up 15cts to $79.50/bbl, while November Brent was 10cts lower at $77.85/bbl.
Both oil benchmarks finished lower the last two days as fighting in the Middle East appeared to have subsided at least for now.
Product futures were mixed. September NYMEX ULSD was up around 4.95cts to $3.82/gal and October ULSD was 4.75cts higher to $3.7250/gal. September RBOB edged down 0.35ct to $2.8485/gal and October RBOB inched up 0.15ct to $2.6055/gal.
