Oil Prices Plummet as Saudi Crude Flows Improve and Trump Dashes Hopes for Peace Deal
Oil prices dropped on Tuesday after increasing flows of Saudi crude through the Strait of Hormuz. The restart of the East-West pipeline and ship movements contributed to this development, which saw Brent crude futures settle at US$99.25 a barrel, down US$1.09 or 1.09 per cent.
US President Donald Trump's statement that a peace deal with Iran would come after the US midterm elections in early November also dampened hopes for stability in the Middle East. This sent oil prices plummeting to their session lows, where both benchmarks were down more than US$2 a barrel.
However, Trump's comments burst mounting hopes that a deal could come during this week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York. Flows through the Strait of Hormuz had been increasing in recent days, with Saudi Arabia loading about 14 million barrels of crude onto seven VLCCs inside the Gulf.