Oil prices plummet nearly 4%, with WTI closing at $70 a barrel.

The August contract of WTI crude oil negotiated in New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) closed this Wednesday (24) with a significant drop of 3.92%, quoted at US$ 70.34/barrel. The expiry of the same month for the Brent fell 3.81% in Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), trading at US$ 73.87/barrel. 

In this trading session, prices were pressured for the third consecutive day, amid the normalization of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and progress in negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Prices plummeted even further after US President Donald Trump stated that Tehran is not charging tolls to ships transiting the strait. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright declared that approximately 72 ships had left the route in the last 24 hours, meaning nearly 20 million barrels of oil passed through the waterway.

Meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that crude oil storage volumes fell by 6.088 million barrels in the week ending June 19, to 412.1 million barrels, exceeding market projections of a 3.9 million barrel drop.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.