U.S. crude oil futures edged lower on Wednesday to trade below $71 a barrel, after falling sharply in the previous session on reports that Israel would not attack Iran’s oil facilities.
The The US benchmark collapsed more than 4 percent on Tuesday after Israel told the U.S. it would limit its retaliatory strikes to military targets in Iran, senior Biden administration officials told NBC News.
Crude oil prices gave up most of the gains made after Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel as fears of a Middle East oil supply disruption eased.
Here are energy prices for Wednesday:
- West Texas Intermediate November contract: $70.28 a barrel, down 30 cents, or 0.43%. Year-to-date, U.S. crude oil is down nearly 2%.
- Brent December contract: $73.94 a barrel, down 31 cents, or 0.42%. Year-to-date, the global benchmark is down about 4%.
- RBOB Gasoline November contract: $2.0378 a gallon, little changed. Year to date, gasoline has decreased by about 3%.
- Natural gas November contract: $2,464 per thousand cubic feet, down 1.36%. Year to date, gas is down about 2%.
