Oil Prices Steady at $73 Ahead of Doha Meeting Outcome
Oil prices edged higher today, Tuesday (June 30th), after pressure emerged as shipping flows through the Strait of Hormuz began to recover more quickly, as progress was made on a peace deal between the United States and Iran.
Brent for September contracts traded above US$73 per barrel, while the front-month contract has fallen by nearly a third this quarter. This is the deepest decline since 2020. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, is hovering around US$70 per barrel.
Morgan Stanley warned of the risk of an oversupply, or glut, in the oil market. The bank cut its price forecast for the next quarter and assessed that the market could return to oversupply if oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz recover to around 65% of pre-conflict levels.
The Strait of Hormuz remains a major market concern. Morgan Stanley recorded 35 oil and gas tankers exiting the Persian Gulf through the channel on Thursday. This figure is back to normal levels before the conflict began in February, although traffic slowed over the weekend due to the renewed escalation and Iranian attacks on ships.
Meanwhile, the direction of US-Iran negotiations remains unclear. Washington said talks would begin on Tuesday in Doha, but Iran has stated it will only send an expert delegation and rejects direct negotiations. At 1:00 p.m. Singapore time, September Brent crude fell 0.7% to US$73.39 per barrel, while August WTI crude weakened 0.8% to US$70.22 per barrel. (asd)*
Source: Newsmaker.id
