Oil ticks higher as Iran’s refusal to meet US envoys dims ceasefire hopes
FILE PHOTO: Sunlight shines through a drilling rig at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau region, Kazakhstan, April 21, 2026. REUTERS/Pavel Mikheyev/File Photo
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
July 1 : Oil prices rose in early trade on Wednesday as investors responded to news that Iran will not be meeting with U.S. envoys, a further strain on the interim ceasefire agreed between the two in the four-month-long war.
Brent futures rose 50 cents or 0.69 per cent to $73.45 a barrel at 1208 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed 63 cents, or 0.91 per cent, to $70.13 a barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Doha for what the White House described as “high level” talks on Tuesday, but Iran and host Qatar said they would meet with mediators, rather than the Iranians themselves.
Qatar said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was among those to meet with Witkoff and Kushner.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Brent fell by around $45 a barrel between the first and second quarters of this year, its largest quarterly loss since 2008 during the financial crisis. U.S. crude futures meanwhile fell by around $31, their largest quarterly loss since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic crushed global oil demand.
The declines followed progress toward ending the Middle East conflict, pulling back from the sharp gains triggered earlier by the hostilities.
Analysts have cut their 2026 oil price forecasts for the first time since the Iran war began, after five straight monthly increases, as the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz eased concerns over prolonged supply disruptions, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Iran would be prevented from charging tolls through the strait, telling The Michael Knowles Show, “This is not going to end in a place where the Iranians are collecting tolls on ships going through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Tanker traffic through the critical waterway has started to recover, with Vance claiming that oil flows through the strait had been restored to pre-war levels.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories fell again last week while gasoline stocks also declined, market sources said, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute released on Tuesday.
Crude stocks fell by 6.1 million barrels in the week ended June 26, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
Markets await official U.S. oil stock data from the Energy Information Administration to be released at 10:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
About The Author
