As intense peace talks between the U.S. and Iran were underway Friday in Pakistan, oil prices finished 13% down for the week. They also fell on Friday, posting their biggest weekly decline since 2022.
Prices closed less than $100 a barrel with Brent, the global benchmark, closing down 72 cents or 0.8% at $95.20 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate crude in the U.S. dropped $1.30 or 1.3% and closed at $96.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, it fell 13.4% which was the largest decline since April 2020 and that was during the lockdowns for the pandemic.
Prices still were impacted by Iran’s heavily restricted flow of any of the nearly 200 tankers that have been stranded in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war.
Analysts say the key issue for the world oil market is whether ship traffic will resume through the Strait of Hormuz but Iran is not giving any indication it will do so. Traffic is less than 10% of normal volumes and those allowed through the Strait were linked to Iran.
Reuters reported that more than 60 energy infrastructure assets across the Gulf have been hit by drone and missile strikes. While most attacks are not expected to cause prolonged disruptions, at least eight facilities face lengthy repair timelines, according to a Thursday note from Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities research at J.P. Morgan.
Natural gas prices finished down on Friday, closing at $2.648 MMBtu with a decline of $.0.022 or 0.82%.
Most Oklahoma energy stocks ended the week’s trading on Friday with losses. Stardust Power led all with a more than 4% drop for the day. Mach Natural Resources finished with the highest percent jump at a strong 2%.