Brent falls below $100 for the first time since 7 October
Brent crude dropped below $100 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 7 October, a fall of nearly $9 or more than 8%, as traders bet that the election result would push President Trump towards ending the Iran war without a major escalation. West Texas Intermediate slipped 8% to about $89. Earlier in the session Brent had been down a more modest 2.5% at $101.02.
“The next six weeks typically deliver one of the most hostile environments for higher gasoline and diesel prices,” said Tom Kloza of Gulf Oil; if neither side pursues “scorched earth” policies in the Gulf, “we may see considerably lower prices by second half December”. The American average pump price was $4.12 on Wednesday morning, 39% higher than before the war began on 28 February, and Patrick De Haan of GasBuddy expects it to fall below $4 in the “days ahead”. Priyanka Sachdeva of Phillip Nova said the president’s “conflicting signals, with military strikes continuing alongside statements downplaying further escalation”, had made it hard for traders to build conviction, and that profit-taking after October’s rally was justified. Ship-tracking data from Vortexa put flows of crude, condensate and refined products from the Middle East at 17.1 million barrels a day in October, down from 18.9 million in September but still roughly three-quarters of pre-war levels. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that the two sides remain far from a deal.