By Helen Clark PERTH, April 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell in early trade on Friday on optimism the Middle East conflict could be nearing an end after a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel
Oil settles down 9% after Iran declares Strait of Hormuz open
Market Reaction and Geopolitical Developments
By Georgina McCartney
Oil Price Movements
HOUSTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled down by around 9% on Friday after Iran said passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz was open for the remaining ceasefire period and U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has agreed to never close the strait again.
Brent crude futures settled down $9.01, or 9.07%, to $90.38 a barrel, after falling to a session low of $86.09. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled down $10.48, or 11.45%, at $83.85 a barrel, after touching a low of $80.56.
Both contracts made their largest daily declines since April 8.
Strait of Hormuz Status
All ships can sail through the Strait of Hormuz but this needs to be coordinated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, adding that unfreezing Iranian funds was part of the deal.
"With the market now rapidly unwinding the extreme risk premium built over the past two weeks, crude is shifting back toward pricing actual flow normalization rather than disruption risk," Gelber & Associates analysts said in a note.
Around 20 ships were seen moving from the Gulf towards the exit via the Strait of Hormuz, according to ship tracking data.
Progress in Negotiations
PROGRESS IN NEGOTIATIONS
US-Iran Talks
The U.S. and Iran have made progress in the negotiations over a three-page memorandum of understanding to end the war, according to an Axios reporter on X.
Trump said on Friday during a phone interview with Reuters that the U.S. will enter Iran at a "leisurely pace" to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the U.S.
Ceasefire and Diplomatic Efforts
Prices had already fallen earlier in the session as possible further talks between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend and a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel raised investors' hopes the war in the Middle East could be nearing an end.
Addressing a sticking point in the talks, Trump said Tehran had offered to not possess nuclear weapons for more than 20 years.
"We're going to see what happens. But I think we're very close to making a deal with Iran," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
US and Israel Relations
Trump also said on Friday that the U.S. has banned Israel from further bombing in Lebanon, using a harsher tone than usual with the longtime U.S. ally.
Ongoing Security and Market Implications
Military Presence and Shipping Risks
Shortly after the announcement that the strait was open, a U.S. official told Reuters that a military blockade of Iran involving more than 10,000 personnel remains in effect.
While the opening of the strait was a step in the right direction, the European market would remain tight for a while, analyst Ole Hvalbye at SEB Research said, since it takes roughly 21 days for ships to move from the Gulf to Rotterdam, the main crude port in the region.
Traffic could be halted once again in the strait, if an agreement about Iran's nuclear ambitions and lifting of the U.S. sanctions remains elusive, said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates.
US Energy Sector Response
In the U.S., energy firms this week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for a second straight week for the first time since March, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston, Robert Harvey, Ahmad Ghaddar, Shadia Nasralla and Seher Dareen in London, Helen Clark in Perth; Editing by Louise Heavens, Kirsten Donovan, Nia Williams and Bill Berkrot)
