A day after Iranian speed boats were sunk following their attack on some of the ships being escorted by the U.S. Navy through the Strait of Hormuz, tensions eased somewhat and as a result crude oil prices settled downward.
Prices had jumped 4% to 6% on Monday but Tuesday, the U.S. gave assurances that Project Freedom was only an effort to expedite safe passage of commercial ships through the strait.
“Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope, and temporary in duration—with one mission: protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression. American forces won’t need to enter Iranian waters or airspace, it’s not necessary. We’re not looking for a fight,” U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters Tuesday morning.
West Texas Intermediate crude in the U.S. slipped 4.4% or nearly $4 to close at $101.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the global standard, dropped 4% or more than $4 to finish at $109.90 a barrel after reaching $114 a barrel on Monday.
Natural gas prices fell too, dropping $0.098 or 3.42% to finish at $2.769 MMBtu.
Gasoline prices across the U.S. rose 3 cents from Monday to Tuesday, reaching a new average of $4.48 per gallon. It was also 29 cents higher from a week ago.
Oklahoma’s gasoline average gained one cent to $3.89 per gallon. It was up 32 cents over the past seven days.
By a slim margin, gainers outnumbered losing Oklahoma energy stocks on Tuesday. USA Rare Earth scored a 7% jump for the day followed by 6% gains recorded by LSB Industries Inc. and Mammoth Energy Services.
A 6% loss was suffered by Stardust Power.