The peace agreement reached between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas sent crude oil prices falling Thursday by more than 1%. Oklahoma energy stocks followed with the same kind of losses for the day.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell $1.04 a barrel or 1.7% to settle at $61.51 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, dropped $1.03 or 1.6% before closing at $65.22 a barrel.
The peace deal required that fighting will end and Israeli troops will partially pull out of Gaza while Hamas will free all of the remaining hostages captured in the attack that started the war two years ago. In exchange, Israel will free hundreds of prisoners as part of the first phase of President Trump’s plan to end the war.
It led Rystad Energy’s Chief Economist Claudio Calimberti to state, “The peace agreement is a major breakthrough in recent Middle Eastern history – its implications for oil markets could be wide-ranging, from the possibility of a decrease in the Houthis’ attacks in the Red Sea to an increase in the likelihood of a nuclear deal with Iran…”
Crude oil prices had a partner in falling for the day—natural gas. It dropped $0.090 or 2.70% to settle at $3.243 MMbtu.
Just about all of the Oklahoma energy stocks we follow suffered losses in Thursday’s trading. Stardust Power had the biggest drop at more than 6% while Mach Natural Resources fell more than 2.5%.
