supply concerns ease with Hormuz tanker traffic resuming
Oil tankers and cargo ships are anchored off Sultan Qaboos Port in Muscat, Oman, on June 21, 2026. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for the region’s oil and gas, has been effectively blockaded since the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran in late February. On Sunday, US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Switzerland for high-level talks with the Iranian delegation; Both sides are trying to clarify the terms for ending the war.
Elke Scholiers | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Oil prices erased wartime gains on Thursday as investors bet global crude oil supplies would increase after tankers stranded in the Persian Gulf for months began to leave the Strait of Hormuz.
US crude oil for August delivery fell 1.66 percent to around $69 per barrel, and Brent fell 1.79 percent to below $73 per barrel, remaining at levels seen before the outbreak of the Middle East war at the end of February.
More than 20 oil tankers carrying nearly 35 million barrels of crude oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Iran agreed to reopen the key shipping route, according to trade monitoring firm Kpler.
The non-Iranian ships were stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months after Tehran effectively blocked the waterway early in the conflict. Most are expected to reach their Asian destinations in early August.
Citi said the worst may be over for its commodity curve carrying strategies, which were hit during the U.S.-Iran war when oil’s preliminary price hike penalized transactions that shorted near-dated contracts and bought forward-dated contracts.
The bank stated that there is now a major tension reduction in the baseline scenario and that it expects Brent to fall to $60 to $65 per barrel in the next six to 12 months as the flow in the Strait of Hormuz normalizes, adding that any temporary rise in oil in the summer months should be “extinguished”.
But Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned on Thursday that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would only be allowed along routes determined by Tehran, stressing that risks to the key shipping lane remained. The IRGC also added that ships violating transit instructions “will face action.”
—CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
