Oil Prices Plunge to Around 80 US Dollars After Strait of Hormuz Reopens
HOUSTON, KOMPAS.com - Global oil prices plunged at the close of trading on Friday (17 April 2026) local time, or Saturday (18 April 2026) Western Indonesia Time, after Iran announced that commercial shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz had reopened.
Citing Reuters, Brent crude prices fell by 9.01 US dollars or 9.07 percent to 90.38 US dollars per barrel, after touching a low of 86.09 US dollars in the previous session.
Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices plunged by 10.48 US dollars or 11.45 percent to 83.85 US dollars per barrel, after reaching a low of 80.56 US dollars.
The decline in both benchmark global oil prices marked the largest since 8 April 2026, in line with easing market concerns over disruptions to global energy supplies.
Market sentiment was also influenced by a statement from US President Donald Trump, who said Iran had agreed not to close the Strait of Hormuz in the future.
“The market is now quickly shedding the extreme risk premium that built up over the past two weeks, so oil prices are returning to reflect normalised supply flows rather than disruption risks,” wrote analysts at Gelber & Associates in their note.
Ship tracking data showed around 20 vessels beginning to move from the Gulf towards the exit through the Strait of Hormuz, signalling the recovery of shipping activity in the strategic waterway.
Hopes for de-escalation in the Middle East also strengthened following progress in negotiations between the US and Iran on a memorandum of understanding to end the war.
Trump said the US would enter Iran gradually to retrieve enriched uranium and bring it to the United States.
“We’ll see what happens. But I think we’re very close to reaching a deal with Iran,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday.
Additionally, the possibility of continued peace talks over the weekend and a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel further boosted market optimism that the conflict in the region was nearing an end.
Nevertheless, a US official stated that the military blockade against Iran, involving more than 10,000 personnel, was still in place.
SEB Research analyst Ole Hvalbye assessed that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz was a positive step, but the European market would still face supply limitations in the short term.
This is because it takes around 21 days for ships to transport oil from the Gulf to Rotterdam, the main crude oil port in the region.
Nonetheless, PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga warned that traffic in the Strait of Hormuz could still be disrupted again if an agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme and the lifting of US sanctions is not reached.
“Traffic could be halted once more in the strait if a deal on Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the lifting of US sanctions remains elusive,” he said.