Oil prices fell further on Thursday, September 17, 2026, after reports that Saudi Arabia was offering additional crude cargoes through Oman, easing concerns over potential supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures declined by $1.88, or 1.8 per cent, to $103.95 a barrel by 0632 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell $1.77, or 1.7 per cent, to $100.66 a barrel.
Both benchmarks had dropped by about $3 on Wednesday.
Hiroyuki Kikukawa, chief strategist at Nissan Securities Investment, said concerns about tight global supplies had eased following reports that Saudi Arabia would ship additional crude through Oman.
“Expectations of progress toward easing tensions in the Middle East ahead of the US-China summit next week are also capping price gains,” Kikukawa said.
People familiar with the matter told Reuters that Saudi Arabia was offering additional crude loadings to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port.
The move is expected to offset part of the disruption to global supplies caused by attacks on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which supplies crude to the Red Sea export hub of Yanbu.
Oil prices had climbed to around four-month highs earlier in the week after shipping industry sources reported that crude loadings at Yanbu had been suspended and that Riyadh had cancelled some shipments to European customers.
The suspension followed attacks on the East-West pipeline, which carries Saudi crude to Yanbu.
Yanbu has become Saudi Arabia’s main outlet for oil exports after Iran began restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following US and Israeli attacks on Iran at the end of February.
Before the conflict, the Strait of Hormuz served as a key transit route for about one-fifth of global oil supplies.
The latest Saudi supply arrangements through Oman have therefore eased some market concerns over the impact of the disruptions, putting renewed pressure on oil prices.
