{"id":126840,"date":"2026-05-07T11:32:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T07:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=126840"},"modified":"2026-05-07T11:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T07:32:20","slug":"oil-steadies-after-7-plunge-iran-deal-countdown-meets-smaller-than-expected-u-s-inventory-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/oil-steadies-after-7-plunge-iran-deal-countdown-meets-smaller-than-expected-u-s-inventory-drop\/05\/07\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Oil Steadies After 7% Plunge: Iran Deal Countdown Meets Smaller-Than-Expected U.S. Inventory Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mild rebound:<\/strong> Brent crude rose 0.3% to $101.55 per barrel, while WTI also gained 0.3% to $95.37 \u2014 both stabilizing after Wednesday&#8217;s brutal selloff.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Massive Wednesday slide:<\/strong> Both contracts crashed more than 7% in the previous session on peace deal hopes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>One-page deal nears:<\/strong> Axios reported the White House is closing in on a memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the war.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>48-hour deadline:<\/strong> Tehran&#8217;s response to the U.S. proposal is expected by Thursday, per CNN.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Iran confirms review:<\/strong> A foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed Tehran would convey its response to Washington&#8217;s proposal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hormuz factor:<\/strong> The chokepoint handles roughly 20% of global oil trade, making any deal pivotal for prices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ING warning:<\/strong> A deal would reduce supply-risk premiums, but delays or setbacks could quickly push prices higher again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>EIA disappoints bears:<\/strong> U.S. crude stockpiles fell 2.3 million barrels \u2014 less than the 3.4 million expected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mixed petroleum picture:<\/strong> Gasoline inventories dropped 2.5 million barrels, while distillates declined 1.3 million barrels.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strong exports:<\/strong> EIA data showed robust petroleum exports, highlighting continued demand for U.S. supplies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices were little changed on Thursday after tumbling more than 7% in the previous session, as investors weighed prospects for a Middle East peace deal and digested fresh U.S. inventory data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of 02:26 ET (06:26 GMT), Brent oil futures expiring in July rose 0.3% to $101.55 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also ticked up 0.3% to $95.37 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both contracts crashed more than 7% on Wednesday, after reports suggested Washington and Tehran were moving closer to an agreement that could ease tensions across the region and potentially reopen disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">U.S., Iran Reportedly Near Peace Deal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Axios reported that the White House was nearing a deal with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report said Washington expected Tehran&#8217;s response within 48 hours and described the negotiations as the closest the two sides had come to an agreement since the conflict began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran is expected to provide mediators with its response to the U.S. proposal by Thursday, CNN reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson, cited by Iran&#8217;s ISNA news agency, said Tehran would convey its response to the U.S. proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Markets have been highly sensitive to any developments surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of global oil trade flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier this week, the United States paused an operation to restore commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran responded with military force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">U.S. Crude Stocks Drop Less Than Expected \u2014 EIA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Limiting Thursday&#8217;s gains, however, were the weekly U.S. inventory figures from the Energy Information Administration showing that crude stockpiles continued to decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The EIA said U.S. commercial crude oil inventories \u2014 excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve \u2014 fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week ended May 1 to 457.2 million barrels. Analysts had been expecting a larger draw of 3.4 million barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gasoline inventories fell by 2.5 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles \u2014 which include diesel and heating oil \u2014 declined by 1.3 million barrels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report also showed strong petroleum exports, underscoring continued demand for U.S. supplies amid ongoing disruptions to Middle East energy flows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Mild rebound: Brent crude rose 0.3% to $101.55 per barrel, while WTI also gained 0.3% to $95.37 \u2014 both stabilizing after Wednesday&#8217;s brutal selloff. Massive Wednesday slide: Both contracts crashed more than 7% in the previous session on peace deal hopes. One-page deal nears: Axios reported the White House is closing in on &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":53340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,6827,49,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-commodities-news","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126841,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126840\/revisions\/126841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}