Oil Prices Fall as Gulf Exports Recover

The two benchmarks rose by about a dollar a barrel on Wednesday. Brent recorded monthly gains of nearly 14% in September, the largest since July, while West Texas Intermediate achieved approximately 5% monthly gains.

Sugandha Sachdeva, founder of S.S. Wealth Street, a research firm based in New Delhi, said, "The near-term trend for oil remains negative, and the recovery of shipments from the Gulf region, the resumption of Saudi exports via Yanbu, and the increase in U.S. inventories alleviate supply concerns."

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia resumed loading oil onto tankers from Yanbu after restarting the East-West pipeline.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories increased by 922,000 barrels to 427.3 million barrels in the week ending September 25, compared to analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll of a decrease of 264,000 barrels.

Sachdeva said, "The resumption of diplomatic communication between the United States and Iran may reduce the geopolitical risk premium, but significant progress remains uncertain."

Iran said on Wednesday that it had received a U.S. response to its latest proposals to revive the Gulf ceasefire agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump denied reports from Axios and CNN, which were based on comments from U.S. officials, that he was prepared to ease sanctions on Iran and release frozen Iranian funds in exchange for "concrete" steps from Tehran regarding its nuclear program.

Goldman Sachs estimated in a note on Tuesday that oil exports from the Gulf states, including exports via tankers sailing with their transmitters and receivers turned off, recovered to 23.3 million barrels per day last week in line with the 2025 average, with exports in September doubling.

Two sources familiar with the matter also told Reuters that the OPEC+ alliance is likely to maintain its oil production targets unchanged for November at its meeting on Sunday.