-- West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil closed up by a penny on Wednesday as U.S. President Trump again declared the war on Iran is near an end while traders continue to scramble for supply with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz keeping a fifth of daily oil demand off the market.
WTI crude oil for May delivery closed up US$0.01 to settle at US$91.29 per barrel, while June Brent oil was last seen up US$0.23 to US$95.02.
Trump's on Wednesday told a U.S. television network that the war was "close to over", according to the New York Times, while on Tuesday saying he expected negotiations with Iran to soon continue.
Still, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to most shipping, keeping 20% of daily oil demand from the market, as Iran continues to forbid tankers from transiting the waterway while the United States blockades Iranian ports.
"Iran's own blockade of non-Iranian oil keeps most crude inside the Gulf, while the US blockade now prevents Iranian crude from getting out. i.e., the (Strait of Hormuz) is theoretically closed from both sides (with some ships sailing through). The only meaningful ME (Middle Eastern) oil reaching the global market is Saudi Arabia's pipeline exports through Yanbu to the Red Sea," Ole Hvalbye, a commodities analyst at SEB Research, wrote.
U.S. commercial oil inventories posted an unexpected drop last week, as the Energy Information Administration reported stocks fell 0.9-million barrels, while the consensus estimate among analysts polled by Reuters expected a rise of 0.15-million barrels