Oil price climb took a break on Friday

While crude oil prices soared more than 25% in the past two weeks, they stopped their climb on Friday and actually fell 3% to 4% on the markets.

It came even as the Houthis joined Iran in making more threats to attack shipping along Yemen and its strait.

The U.S. held off on military strikes against Iran for a second consecutive day Sunday, while Tehran also said it had refrained from launching attacks, as diplomatic efforts continued to revive negotiations over an interim ceasefire that had been derailed by nearly two weeks of hostilities.

The specific reason for the U.S. operational pause was not immediately clear, the Associated Press reported.

Brent crude oil futures expiring in September fell 4.2% or more than $4 a barrel to close at $96.46. It had reached more than $100 on Thursday.

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.2% or just less than $3 and finished at $89.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Since July 10, the former contract has soared 26.9% and the latter has jumped 25.1%.

Natural gas fell on Friday, settling at $2.873 MMBtu with a decline of $0.043 or 1.47%.

Friday was a weak trading day for Oklahoma energy stocks as a majority recorded losses for the day. The two biggest drops included USA Rare Earth at 7% and Stardust Power at 6%.

Alliance Resource Partners LP