Oil prices on Wednesday, March 18, fell by more than USD 2 per barrel after the Iraqi government and Kurdish authorities reached an agreement to resume oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan, which somewhat eased concerns about supplies from the Middle East.
It was reported by Ekonomichna Pravda with reference to Reuters.
The report says that in the absence of signs of de-escalation of the Iranian conflict, which has largely stopped oil exports from the Middle East, Brent futures prices exceeded USD 100 per barrel during the previous four sessions
After rising by more than 3% on Tuesday, Brent futures fell by USD 2.26, or 2.19%, to USD 101.16 per barrel.
American West Texas Intermediate crude fell by USD 2.99, or 3.11%, to USD 93.22.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani Al-Sawad said that the start of oil supplies from Jayhan is expected today.
Last week, two oil industry officials said that Iraq was seeking to pump at least 100,000 barrels of crude oil a day through the port.
"The news brought some relief to the market. Any additional volume that comes back to the market is valuable in the current situation, so prices have dropped," said Anh Pham, senior analyst at LSEG.
Since the start of the escalation in the Middle East, oil production from Iraq's main southern oil fields, where most of the crude is exported, has fallen by 70% to just 1.3 million barrels per day as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20% of the world's oil, has been closed.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, oil prices on Wednesday, March 11, fell after reports that the International Energy Agency that the International Energy Agency is proposing the largest release of oil from strategic reserves in its history, as sentiment is weighed down by the risks of supply disruptions due to the US and Israeli conflict with Iran.
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