U.S. oil drops below $70 despite Iranian drone attacks

Despite more Iranian drone attacks on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, crude oil prices continued their decline, falling nearly 4% as U.S. crude settled to less than $70 a barrel.

Increased shipping traffic in the Strait offset tensions sparked by ship attacks. Over the weekend, Iran responded to US attacks.

Global benchmark Brent crude fell 3.7% or more than $3 a barrel to close at $72.74 a barrel,

West Texas Intermediate, the price set at Oklahoma’s Cushing Hub, fell nearly $2.50 or 3.5% to settle at $69.42 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

For the week, both contracts were down more than 9% in reaction to last week’s signing of an interim peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. The benchmarks this week were at their lowest since February 27, one day before the U.S. and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran. At one point during the war, Brent crude hit $120 a barrel.

President Trump said Friday Iran shot at least four drones at ships passing the critical Strait and one cargo vessel was hit. He called it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran shot at least four One-Way Attack Drones at Ships transversing the Strait of Hormuz. One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones,” Trump posted on his Truth Social service.

Natural gas prices also fell in Friday’s trading, settling at $3.293 MMBtu after a drop of $0.002 or 0.06%.

Oklahoma energy stocks were about split on Friday between gainers and losers. Empire Petroleum Corp. had a 6% drop for the day, and Unit Corporation fell more than 8%. On the positive side, Mammoth Energy gained more than 8% while Stardust Power finished up 9%.