Oil falls over $1 on expectations for US-Iran nuclear deal
Oil prices fell over $1 during trade on Thursday on expectations of a potential U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, while a surprise build in {{8849|U.S. crcrude oil inventories last week heightened investor concerns about oversupply.
Brent crude futures fell $1.49, or 2.3%, to $64.60 a barrel by 0405 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid $1.46, or 2.3%, to $61.69.
The both benchmarks lost about 0.8% on Wednesday.
Iran is willing to agree to a deal with the U.S. in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, an Iranian official told NBC News in an interview published on Wednesday.
"Fresh selling was triggered by expectations that a U.S.-Iran nuclear deal would ease recently tightened U.S. sanctions on Iran, potentially loosening the global crude supply-demand balance," said Yuki Takashima, economist at Nomura Securities.
Saudi Arabia fully supports the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks and hopes for positive results, the kingdom’s foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said on Wednesday.
Washington issued sanctions on Wednesday to target Iranian efforts to domestically manufacture components for ballistic missiles, the U.S. Treasury Department said, following Tuesday’s sanctions on some 20 companies in a network that it said has long sent Iranian oil to China.
The sanctions came following a fourth round of U.S.-Iran talks in Oman aimed at addressing disputes over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The surprise rise in U.S. inventories overnight is also weighing on prices as is profit taking after crude oil rebounded towards the top of its recent $55-65 per barrel range, said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG.
Source: Reuters
