Business
Oil Prices Close Below $70 for the First Time Since Iran War Began
U.S. oil prices dropped 8.7% this week, or $6.62 a barrel, to end below $70 for the first time since late February, before the U.S. began bombing Iran.
Benchmark U.S. futures closed Friday at $69.23, just 3.3% higher than the settlement price on the day before fighting broke out and the Strait of Hormuz was shut to normal shipping traffic. It has been a stunning round trip for oil prices, with the latest turn spurred by a 60-day deal with Iran to reopen the vital fuel-shipping lane. And it comes just as U.S. energy producers have begun to ramp up output.
Producers, who were reluctant to do much additional drilling as oil prices shot up this spring, last week dispatched seven additional rigs, according to oilfield services firm Baker Hughes. There are now 440 rigs drilling in the U.S. specifically for crude, the most in more than a year.
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