Oil dropped 3% Friday on high hopes for peace deal

Not since March have Brent crude oil prices hit the level they did on Friday when traders became even more confident of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. Prices fell more 3% but at one point Friday afternoon reached a 4% decline.

At the closing, Brent finished down $3.04 or 3.37% at $87.33 a barrel.

West Texas Intermediate, the crude standard in the U.S., closed down $2.83 or 3.23% at $84.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest level for WTI since April 17.

There were hopes on Friday a peace agreement could be signed as soon as Sunday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Friday a memorandum of understanding had not been signed and things could still change.

The reported agreement was reached after President Trump on Thursday called off threatened air strikes against Iran. A report by an Iranian news agency said final negotiations focused on nuclear and economic issues but would not include any discussions about Iran’s missil program.

OilPrice.com reported that early concerns that the conflict could escalate and threaten Middle East oil supplies helped support crude prices near weekly highs. Later, signs that diplomacy remained possible encouraged traders to reduce positions built around fears of a major supply disruption.

Natural gas prices finished the day with a gain of $0.048 or 1.55% to close at $3.135 MMBtu.

All but three of our Oklahoma energy stocks finished up on Friday, including two firms, Empire Petroleum Corp. and NGL Energy Partners LP Unit with 5% gains for the day.