The price of Brent (BZ=F) oil futures fell below $75 per barrel Wednesday for the first time since the Iran war began.
The decline came after United States and Iran signed an initial agreement to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz last week
The Brent contract is the international benchmark for oil pricing on which almost all other oil grades are based. Brent pricing slid roughly 4.4% on Wednesday, falling below $74. Contracts on WTI crude (CL=F), the US benchmark, traded near $71 Wednesday morning on an equal 4.4% slide.
The move on Brent pricing comes after a loss of 27% over the previous month as peace negotiations to end the conflict that has roiled the global energy market came to a head with the signing by the US and Iran of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU, among other tenets, calls for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and for freedom of navigation for oil tankers and other vessels that have been stuck on either side of the critical waterway. Both US and Iranian leaders have promised safe passage of vessel transits, though some larger shipping lines have elected to wait for a longer period to assess whether the tentative peace agreement holds, freight analysts told Yahoo Finance.