• The Oil price slides further to near $69.00 as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz starts normalizing.
• Hawkish Fed bets are also hurting the oil price.
• The earthquake in Venezuela could offer support to the oil price.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), futures on NYMEX, is down 0.7% to near $69.00 during the late Asian trading session on Thursday. The Oil price has returned close to the pre-Middle East war level, facing intense selling pressure in the past few weeks, as oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint to almost one-fifth of global energy supply, have increased.

According to a Bloomberg’s report, more ships are openly signaling their intention to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, pointing to growing confidence among shipowners and traders about sending vessels through the chokepoint as tensions ease.

Also, the International Maritime Organization said it had received guarantees allowing hundreds of ships to exit the Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is exporting oil at nearly 85% of pre-war levels.

Apart from the increased oil supply, firm expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates this year are also acting as key drag on the Oil price. The CME FedWatch tool shows that the odds of the Fed hiking interest rates this year are almost 82%. While the possibility of at least two interest rate hikes is 42.2%.

Going forward, the earthquake in Venezuela, resulted in serious damage to infrastructure, could slightly impact the global oil price. The oil from Venezuela has lately become a significant driving factor for the oil supply, as the United States (US) is now controlling its energy resources and marketing to global world after abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.