Oil prices edged down Monday amid subdued Easter holiday trading as investors took some encouragement from news of some oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“There is definitely some sort of volumes being shipped through the strait—by far not at all normalising the commercial ship traffic—but it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” SEB analyst Ole R. Hvalbye told AFP.
Around 1050 GMT, a barrel of the main Brent benchmark was off 0.8 percent at $108.20. US equivalent West Texas Intermediate, was down 1.4 percent at 110.01.
Those dips came on comments by Turkey’s transport minister that a third Turkish-owned ship had crossed the war-torn strait.
Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key global waterway, since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran started on February 28 sent global oil and gas prices soaring from around $60 a barrel pre-war.
Turkey said its Ocean Thunder tanker, carrying crude oil from Iraq to Malaysia, safely passed through the strait on Sunday.
According to the global ship tracking intelligence Marine Traffic, it was coming from Basra in Iraq.
Two other vessels safely exited the strait at the weekend.
In addition, Japanese shipping firm Mitsui O.S.K. Lines said on Monday that an Indian-flagged LPG tanker owned by its subsidiary had passed through the strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday they are completing preparations to enforce new operating conditions in the strait.
The Guards’ naval forces warned conditions in the strait “will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel.”
AFP
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