Oil is trading slightly lower this Friday morning.

At 8:51 am (Brasilia time) this Friday (3), the August contract of WTI crude oil It registered a slight decrease of 0.35% in New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), quoted at US$68.45/barrel, with an accumulated loss of 1.13% so far this week. The September contract for Brent It fell 0.10% in Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), traded at US$71.73/barrel, with a weekly loss of 1.20%. Yesterday (2), the WTI It rose 0.16% to US$68.69/barrel, while the Brent The price of crude oil advanced 0.32%, to US$71.80/barrel. Today's trading session is marked by lower liquidity in global markets, as the US stock and spot markets are closed due to the Independence Day holiday. With the international economic agenda also empty, investors are focusing their attention on negotiations between the United States and Iran seeking to secure peace in the Middle East. According to data collected yesterday at the end of the day… Hormuz Strait MonitorAt least five supertankers carrying a total of 10 million barrels of Saudi oil left the Strait of Hormuz bound for Asia. In the last 24 hours, 45 ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz, equivalent to 75% of the waterway's historical average flow, estimated at around 60 vessels per day. Limiting further gains, US oil inventories remain at historically low levels. Last week, the stored volume – excluding strategic reserves – fell by 3.775 million barrels to 408.4 million barrels, exceeding market projections of a 2.9 million barrel drop. The previous week had seen a decrease of 6.088 million barrels.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.