Commercial ships and oil tankers preparing to transit the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical strategic waterways for global trade flows, maintain their wait in the Gulf of Oman, June 17.
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Oil extended losses on Wednesday as concerns over possible supply disruptions eased, while investors monitored developments in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
International reference Brent crude Futures for August fell 1.8% to $75.68 a barrel, hitting their lowest level since Feb. 27, a day before the U.S.-Israeli-led war against Iran began.
WE West Texas Intermediate Futures for August, they were last seen down 1.7% at $71.87 per barrel.
American President Donald Trump Oil companies criticized Wednesday for not lowering gasoline prices in line with the recent drop in crude prices.
“Big oil companies are not lowering their prices at the pump in proportion to the significantly lower prices they pay for oil. Those prices are falling like a rock!” Trump wrote in Truth Social. job.
“In other words, customers are being ‘ripped off.’ I have asked the Department of Justice to immediately begin investigating this matter. Gas prices better start coming down much faster than I’m seeing!” he added.
CNBC has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice for comment and is awaiting a response.
Karen Young, a senior fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, called the message “political theater,” noting that “that’s not really how gasoline prices work in the United States.”
“There are state and local taxes that are applied to the price of gasoline at gas stations in the United States,” Young told CNBC. “Go to the Middle East.”
“It really depends on the refiners, and it takes a few weeks for crude prices to come down, and then the prices at the refineries, and then the consumers before they can really respond.”
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Investors were also encouraged by signs that maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz could begin to return to normal.
More than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Persian Gulf will start exit through the Strait of Hormuz after security guarantees have been ensured, according to the International Maritime Organization.
“We have obtained the necessary security guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
Dominguez added that this will be achieved “in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry.”
Supply chain pressures have increased due to longer transit times for ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz and disruptions to air cargo capacity, Aditi Rasquinha, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding Greater China, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
“With the opening of the strait, a lot of this could potentially ease,” Rasquinha said, while noting that it would take some time for the supply chain to normalize.
—CNBC Spencer Kimball contributed to the report.