Oil News: WTI and Brent Whipsaw as Hormuz Talks Clash With Tanker Risk
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Key Points:
- A Houthi attack claim near Yanbu revived the Red Sea oil premium just hours after Tuesday’s 5% crude selloff.
- Brent recovered faster than WTI, showing the market still prices direct risk to Middle East export cargoes.
- Hormuz traffic remains barely above depressed levels, leaving Tuesday’s diplomacy-led crude oil selloff unconfirmed.
Crude dropped more than 5% Tuesday on a deal that Iran says is not happening. Wednesday morning a Houthi attack claim on a Saudi tanker near Yanbu put the Red Sea route under threat before the selloff even had time to settle. The market sold Hormuz diplomacy for the third time this summer and for the third time the physical picture has not changed. The ships are not moving. The alternate route just got hit. And the API reported a 2.7 million barrel build that gives the bears a domestic number to pair with the diplomatic headlines.