Oil prices slide as markets anticipate restored Strait of Hormuz shipping

The losses were limited by shipping risks in the Red Sea after Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi terrorists said on Wednesday they had attacked a Saudi oil tanker off Yanbu, a port for Saudi crude oil exports on the Red Sea.

Apart from disruption in the Persian Gulf, a surge in attacks on Russian and Ukrainian ships, ports and export terminals in the Black Sea is disrupting global commodity supplies.

Disruption has spread to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the main export route for Kazakh crude oil, which has repeatedly suspended operations this week because of safety concerns and a lack of tankers, numerous trading sources said.

Elsewhere, China further relaxed controls on fuel exports in August.

(Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York and Robert Harvey in London, Helen Clark in Perth and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by David Goodman, Deepa Babington and Barbara Lewis)