Oil

Last week, WTI fell over 7 percent and Brent lost more than 6 percent.

Drone shoot downs and seized tankers escalate in the Strait of Hormuz.

Is Iran getting desperate over sanctions?

Prices were further weighed down after the U.S. equities market opened lower.

Barry, which came ashore on Saturday in central Louisiana as a Category 1 hurricane, prompted oil companies to shut nearly 74 percent of production at U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of the storm.

Oil prices slipped as President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signaled Iran tensions may ease.

Since July 10, 7.8 million barrels of oil, or nearly two-thirds of the United States daily oil production, has been lost from Barry, which has become a post-tropical cyclone and was moving over eastern Missouri on Tuesday.

Trump said on Tuesday a lot of progress had been made with Iran.

Workers also were returning to the more than 280 production platforms evacuated.

The storm also cut nearly 62 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf region, according to the BSEE.

Gas prices may increase after Tropical Storm Barry makes landfall this weekend.

U.S. oil producers have evacuated oil platform workers from 257 offshore facilities and seven rigs.

U.S. oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico have cut more than half their output because of a Tropical Storm Barry,

The incident came at a time of heightened tensions over Iran's unraveling nuclear agreement with world powers.