Commercial ships and oil tankers preparing to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important waterways for global trade, end their wait in the Gulf of Oman, June 17.
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On Wednesday, oil pared losses in Asian trading hours as concerns over a possible disruption eased, while investors monitored developments in the Strait of Hormuz.
An international benchmark Brent crude August futures fell 0.91% to $76.38 a barrel. In the US West Texas Intermediate futures in August fell 0.94% to $72.52 per barrel.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump criticized oil companies for not reducing the price of gasoline in line with the recent drop in crude prices.
“The big oil companies are not lowering their prices at the pump to match the very low prices they pay for Oil. Those prices are dropping like a rock!,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“In other words, customers are being ‘harrassed.'” I have ordered the DOJ to immediately start looking into this. Gasoline prices better start dropping much faster than I can see!,” he added.
CNBC has reached out to the US Department of Justice for comment and is awaiting a response.
Karen Young, a senior research fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, described the position as a “political platform,” noting that “it’s not really how fuel prices work in the US.”
“There are federal and local taxes, which are applied to the price of gas at gas stations in the United States,” Young told CNBC’s “Access the Middle East.”
“It goes to the refiners, and it takes a few weeks before the crude prices come down, then the prices at the refineries, then it goes to the consumers before they really respond.”
Investors were also encouraged by signs that maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz may be beginning to return to normal.
More than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Persian Gulf will begin to leave through the Strait of Hormuz after safety is confirmed, according to the International Maritime Organization.
“We have obtained the necessary safety guarantees and have fully confirmed the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.
Dominguez added that it will be done “in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal countries in the region, the United States and the maritime industry.”
Supply chain pressures have increased due to long shipping delays in the Strait of Hormuz and air freight disruptions, DHL Global Forwarding Greater China CEO Aditi Rasquinha said on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box Asia.’
“With the opening of the Strait, a lot of that should calm down,” Rasquinha said, but noted that it will take time for the supply chain to normalize.
– CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to the report.
