NEW YORK: Oil prices fell 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was \u201cseriously talking\u201d with Washington, signalling de-escalation of tensions with the OPEC member, while a stronger dollar and milder weather forecasts also pressured prices. Brent crude futures were down $3.25, or 4.7%, at $66.07 per barrel by 11:21 a.m. ET (1621 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell $3.27, or 5%, to $61.94 per barrel. On Saturday Trump told reporters Iran was \u201cseriously talking\u201d, hours after Tehran\u2019s top security official Ali Larijani said arrangements for negotiations were underway. News Agency
\nTrump had repeatedly threatened Iran with intervention if it did not agree to a nuclear deal or continued killing protesters. The threats underpinned oil prices throughout January, said Priyanka Sachdeva, an analyst at Phillip Nova.
\nOil prices were also under pressure due to strength in the dollar after Trump\u2019s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. A stronger dollar makes commodities such as oil and gold more expensive for foreign investors, weighing on demand.
\nMeanwhile, forecasts of milder weather in the U.S. were another bearish development for oil prices as diesel futures pulled back sharply, Ritterbusch and Associates said. U.S. futures prices for diesel, used in heating and power generation, were down nearly 7% on Monday.
\nTogether with tensions in the Middle East, a polar vortex in the U.S. had helped U.S. WTI futures rise 14% and Brent gain 16% in January, PVM analysts said in a note. With those issues fading in relevance, the focus is returning to a widely anticipated buildup of global oil inventories this year, they said.
\nAt a meeting on Sunday, OPEC+ agreed to keep its oil output unchanged for March. In November, the grouping had frozen further planned increases for January through March 2026 because of seasonally weaker consumption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK: Oil prices fell 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was \u201cseriously talking\u201d with Washington, signalling de-escalation of tensions with the OPEC member, while a stronger dollar and milder weather forecasts also pressured prices. Brent crude futures were down $3.25, or 4.7%, at $66.07 per barrel by 11:21 a.m. ET […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-529219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n