Oil prices fall more than 3% on Friday

Oil benchmarks slipped on Friday, though both remain up over 7% this week. Brent crude futures dropped $3.75, or 3.48%, to $103.88 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate lost $3.33, or 3.25%, to $99.15. American diesel hit a record high as tanker attacks in the Middle East kept fears of long-lasting shortages alive.

Earlier in the day both contracts touched peaks not seen since mid-May, before the gains evaporated once the Financial Times reported that Middle East foreign ministers are working on a temporary arrangement with Iran to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Ship crossings through the strait dropped to seven on Thursday, down from 11 a day earlier and under a ten-day average of 15. Before the Iran conflict began in late February, the waterway carried around a fifth of world daily oil and LNG supply.