Oil Tumbles 5%
WTI crude oil futures slid almost 5% to about $59.1 a barrel on Thursday, its sharpest drop since October, after signs that the immediate risk of a US strike on Iran had eased. President Donald Trump said he had received assurances that Iranian authorities would stop killing protesters, lowering the odds of near-term military action and reducing fears of disruptions to Iran’s oil output and key shipping routes. Only a day earlier, markets had braced for possible strikes after Iran briefly closed its airspace and reports emerged of US troop movements in the region. With tensions cooling, much of the geopolitical risk premium that had driven the recent rally quickly evaporated. Oil prices had climbed early in the year as unrest in Iran, OPEC’s fourth-largest producer, combined with turmoil in Venezuela and supply disruptions to Kazakh exports in the Black Sea caused by drone attacks, maintenance and bad weather. Trump also said he believes Venezuela should remain in OPEC.