Oman rules out Strait of Hormuz transit fees as oil prices fall

Oman said future arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz would not involve transit fees as crude prices kept sliding and tanker traffic through the chokepoint resumed. Brent fell about 1% to roughly $73 a barrel, after touching about $72.48, while West Texas Intermediate closed at $70.34 after hitting a session low of $69.63.

Lower crude usually feeds into gasoline and diesel costs, and the easing in shipping risk could also help blunt freight charges that work their way into the prices Americans pay for food, goods and travel. The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, handles about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas flows, and its shipping lanes are only about two miles wide in each direction.

Oman’s remarks came at a Gulf Cooperation Council-U.S. ministerial meeting in Bahrain, where Muscat also backed the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding aimed at reducing tensions and restoring safer passage. The memorandum, signed on June 17, 2026, called for 60 days of toll-free safe passage through the strait, along with mine removal and other steps to reopen the route. Oman, which sits on the southern side of the waterway, has promoted an alternate route close to its coast that tankers are now using as traffic recovers.

Disputes over implementation and the final text of the arrangement remain. Crude prices were near four-month lows as tanker movement improved and more oil was expected to leave the Gulf.

The International Chamber of Shipping said roughly 500 ships still needed to transit out of the Gulf, and about 20,000 seafarers had been stranded there during the closure. The International Maritime Organization verified 46 attacks on international shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz since February 28, 2026, with 14 confirmed seafarer fatalities.