Oil prices fall 2% on hopes for US-Iran conflict easing

In a move that would reduce crude demand but reduce gasoline and diesel supplies, Saudi Aramco shut down its 400,000 barrel-per-day Jizan oil refinery in Saudi Arabia on July 27 following an attack by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen on Saturday, a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters showed.

That has prompted Saudi Aramco to consider a new pricing mechanism for crude loading from Egypt's Sidi Kerir port for Asia to reflect higher shipping costs after re-routing exports through the Suez Mediterranean pipeline.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies like Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, are likely to pause its gradual oil output hikes after September for the rest of this year, four sources said, as the producer group needs to have additional talks before deciding its output quotas for 2027.

In Libya, production at the El Feel and Wafa oilfields resumed after a halt on Tuesday, with state oil firm NOC saying protesters had stormed the Mellitah oil and gas complex and disrupted operations.