CRUDE WRAP: WTI (N6) SETTLES USD 2.98 LOWER AT 93.04/BBL; BRENT (Q6) SETTLES USD 2.78 LOWER AT 95.03/BBL

The crude complex was lower, due to ongoing mediation efforts to broker a US–Iran peace deal following recent flare-ups and retaliatory strikes. Highlighting this, and sparking benchmarks falling to intra-day troughs, was a Truth post from US President Trump, who said the US is "in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War". Aside from that, US and Iran updates were fairly sparse on Thursday, aside from in late trade, whereby a US official told Al Jazeera that the ceasefire with Iran is in place, but they will continue to protect its forces and impose a blockade on its ports. Elsewhere, the Hezbollah chief rejected the US-brokered Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, which caused prices to climb off lows. In late trade, WTI and Brent tested earlier lows on the aforementioned Al Jazeera remarks, alongside remarks from Putin who said Trump's peace proposals could be a basis for peace deals with Ukraine, and Trump sincerely seeks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. WTI traded between USD 91.91-95.91/bbl and Brent USD 93.93-97.44/bbl, ahead of US NFP on Friday.