Texas crude oil drops by 0.19%, reaching $86.27 per barrel.

The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil opened this Tuesday with a decrease of 0.19%, reaching $86.27 per barrel.

The WTI futures contracts for May delivery were down $0.16 compared to the previous session’s close.

Geopolitics is currently the primary influencing factor in the oil market.

The initial perception of an improvement in the geopolitical dynamics between Israel and Hamas weighed on oil prices yesterday. Over the weekend, Israel withdrew some troops from Gaza areas.

However, yesterday Hamas reportedly rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that “a date has been set” for an invasion of Rafah – in the southern Gaza Strip.

Renewed uncertainties about the potential escalation of the military conflict led to much of the initial losses being recovered throughout the day, and WTI ended (on Monday) with a modest decline of 0.40%.

Meanwhile, natural gas futures rose during the European session on Tuesday.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas futures for May were trading at $1.87 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) as of the time of this report, up 1.14%.

It reached an early session high of $1.87 per MMBtu. Natural gas is likely to find support at $1.746 and resistance at $1.867.

The Dollar Index Futures, which tracks the dollar’s trend against the basket of the other six major currencies, fell by 0.07% to trade at $103.83.

On the other hand, on the Nymex, crude oil for May delivery increased by 0.28% to trade at $86.67 per barrel, while May heating oil increased by 0.30% to trade at $2.74 per gallon.