Crude oil and refined product futures prices were still seeing deep losses heading into Friday afternoon even as prices eased off lows seen earlier in the morning.
The sharp declines come as markets react to Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz Friday in response to a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
U.S. oil prices were down nearly 13% at about 11:20 a.m. ET, with the May NYMEX West Texas Intermediate crude contract down $11.81 to $82.88/bbl after falling as low as $80.65/bbl earlier in the morning. The front-month contract is moving toward expiration early next week, so most activity is focused on the June contract, which was down $10.04 to $81.13/bbl.
June Brent crude was $10.53 lower to $88.86/bbl while July prices were down $8.18 to $85.39/bbl. Brent contracts are trading more than $2.50 above earlier lows.
Most activity in refined product futures was also focused on the next-month contract.
ULSD futures were trading 11.8% lower, with May prices down 44.96cts to $3.3833/gal and June prices off by 37.49cts to$3.2713/gal. Earlier in the morning the front-month contract had fallen as low as $3.2603/gal.
RBOB futures were seeing prices about 7% lower, with the front-month contract down 21.18cts to $2.9519/gal after falling as low as $2.8906/gal. June prices were down 20.60/gal to $2.8853/gal.
If the price declines hold, crude and ULSD futures will end the week at the lowest levels in more than a month.
The Iranian announcement Friday said the strait would remain open for commercial traffic during the Israel and Lebanon ceasefire. President Trump on Friday, however, said the United States would continue its own blockade of the strait that began Monday and targets shipping approaching or leaving Iran.
Trump, however, also expressed confidence that a deal would soon be reached to end the fighting that began Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
The drop in futures prices was sending gasoline and diesel prices sharply lower in spot markets around the country. Equity markets were seeing strong gains heading into Friday afternoon, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 2% and the NASDAQ Composite rising by 1.7%.
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This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Donna Harris, dharris@opisnet.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-17-26 1209ET
