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.
Delegates from the United States and Iran were negotiating in Qatar for a third day Thursday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. and Oman are looking for ways to break Iran's insistence on charging tolls for ships to pass through the strait, with a promise to unfreeze some of the $100 billion in Iranian funds held overseas.
So far, Tehran isn't agreeing to the deal, the Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the discussions.
Morgan Stanley energy analysts said in a Thursday note that the number of oil tankers passing through the strait this week, both inbound and outbound, remained well below the seven-day moving average.
In addition, the U.S. bank has tracked about 1,300 oil tankers through the key global oil supply chokepoint in the last four months, compared to more than 8,000 over a similar period before the start of the Middle East conflicts.
Trading volumes were slightly lower than usual, ahead of the U.S. IndependenceDay holiday weekend.
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July 02, 2026 12:23 ET (16:23 GMT)
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