Oil prices are falling. Markets are assessing the situation in the Middle East and the US-Iran talks

How much does a barrel of oil cost today?

A barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery on X is priced at $91.94 on the NYMEX in New York. - lower by 0.24 percent Brent on ICE on XI is valued at $103.04. per barrel, lower by 0.04 percent. On Wednesday, oil gained almost 4%.

Investors are assessing comments from the US, which suggested that oil supplies from the Middle East are increasing. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that "at times" 17 million barrels of oil a day flow through the Strait of Hormuz. In turn, Clarkson Research estimated the daily volume of oil flow through Hormuz at approximately 8 million barrels per day.

Is Iran thinking about diplomatic actions to end the war?

Analysts indicate that oil is falling because the market is removing part of the geopolitical risk premium as the supply of crude oil from the Persian Gulf improves and hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough between the US and Iran grow.

Oil prices are falling as the market loses some of its geopolitical risk premium as supply from the Persian Gulf improves and hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough grow. However, the physical oil market is far from full normalization, so price declines are very sensitive to any media reports, said Priyanka Sachdeva, head of market analysis at Phillip Nova Pte Ltd.

US President Donald Trump announced that there was a productive meeting with the Iranian delegation in New York on Tuesday. He announced further talks.

A diplomatic minefield

The meeting took place after Donald Trump announced during his speech at the UN General Assembly that he had a choice between making an agreement with Iran or "annihilating the Islamic Republic."

In turn, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian stated on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly session in New York that Iran will not surrender in the war with the US, but wants to end the conflict through diplomatic means.

Meanwhile, investors are waiting for further details on Saudi Arabia's plans to resume oil exports via the key East-West pipeline. The kingdom has resumed operations of this pipeline, but the volume of oil transported is currently low.

Oil transport via the East-West pipeline, which connects oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia with the Red Sea port of Yanbu, was suspended on September 13 due to damage from a drone attack.

Meanwhile, attacks on ships continue in the Strait of Hormuz

According to information provided by the British Maritime Trade Operations - UKMTO - a cargo ship was attacked on September 23. The vessel drifted and began to burn. Two fatalities were reported and the remaining crew were evacuated from the ship.

In the USA, official data on oil reserves were released

Last week, US crude oil stocks increased by 2.97 million barrels, or 0.7%, to 426.4 million barrels, the US Department of Energy (DoE) reported.

Gasoline stocks fell by 1.69 million barrels, or 0.81 percent, to 206.05 million barrels during this time. Reserves of distilled fuels, including heating oil, decreased by PLN 428,000. barrels, or by 0.4 percent, to 107.43 million barrels, the DoE reported.