WTI bears kick into gear again

• WTI bears step in and cap geopolitical fuelled rally's progress.
• Escalations of cross-border hostilities between Israel and Iran have resurfaced. 

At the time of writing, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude spot is down over 0.3% after falling from a high of $69.14 to a low of $68.88  in the day so far. 

Overnight, prices were some 1.5% higher on Thursday, recovering from the delta spread slump on Wednesday on increasing Middle East tensions.

Brent crude futures, rose 91 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $71.29 a barrel, after earlier dipping below $70 for the first time since July 21.

WTI futures added 94 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $69.09 a barrel. Both benchmarks fell more than $2 on Wednesday to a two-week low in the concerns of the high contagious Delta variant.

However, the energy market's wild card, Iran, was shown on Thursday. Escalations of cross-border hostilities amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran.

The nation has always been the wild card for the oil market in 2021. Now, growing tensions come as nuclear talks between Iran and Western powers that would ease sanctions on Iran's oil exports appear to have stalled.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned arch-foe Israel not to take military action against the Islamic Republic after the Jewish state threatened Tehran over a deadly tanker attack.

“In another brazen violation of Int’l law, Israeli regime now blatantly threatens Iran with military action,” ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter.