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Summary
- Oman said Mina al Fahal operations proceeding normally
- Hezbollah leader rejects Lebanon ceasefire deal
- Iranian oil exports fall to lowest level in six years, data shows
- OPEC secretary general says oil demand to remain robust, no change to estimates
LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) – Oil prices edged lower after Oman said operations at Mina al Fahal port were proceeding normally, following a Reuters report that oil loadings had been suspended after an explosion.
Brent crude futures fell by 50 cents, or 0.53%, to $94.53 a barrel by 0915 GMT after settling down 2.84% in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $92.61 a barrel, down 43 cents, or 0.46%, following a 3.1% loss on Thursday.
Both contracts still looked set to post their first weekly gains in three weeks, with Brent up 2.7% and WTI around 6%.
The contracts rose after fighting flared in the Middle East as U.S.-Iran war peace talks dragged on while traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil passes, remained limited.
Petroleum Development Oman said on Friday that operations at Mina Al Fahal port were proceeding normally, after three sources told Reuters earlier that oil loading had been suspended following an explosion near its mooring berths.
Oman exports 800,000 to 900,000 barrels per day of crude from the terminal.
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected on Thursday a U.S.-brokered agreement between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting. Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition for any peace deal with Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he believed progress was being made between Israel and Lebanon and that Lebanon deserved to have peace.
“Any optimism remains heavily clouded by a tangled web of headlines and counter-headlines,” IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.
OPEC is sticking to its oil demand growth forecast of 1.2 million barrels per day for this year, Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said on Thursday, despite the Middle East conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian oil exports have fallen to their lowest level in six years mainly due to the U.S. naval blockade, according to shipping data, although weak demand in China has depressed prices for the oil.
Reporting by Robert Harvey in London, Florence Tan and Sam Li in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul and Kim Coghill
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