Brent hits four-month low at $70.80 while WTI slips to $67.74 a barrel
\n Dubai
\nOil prices dropped about 1% on Thursday, down for a third consecutive day, after Qatar said Iran and the \u200bUS had made progress in indirect talks focused on the Strait of \u200cHormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil supply before the war.
\nBrent futures lost 77 cents or 1.1% to $70.80 a barrel by 0256 GMT, while US \u200bWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 84 cents or 1.2% to $67.74 a barrel.
\nBoth benchmarks also \u200bfell more than 1% in the previous session, hitting their lowest levels in four months.
\nThe Doha talks produced \u201cpositive progress\u201d on issues related to the memorandum that halted the war in June, a Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson \u200bsaid in a post on X.
\nThere was, however, no sign that the \u200btwo sides had made headway towards a lasting peace.
\nAs the strait stays open and crude oil flows out, there are growing expectations of oversupply and \u200bcompetition for market share is pushing prices down, Haitong Futures said in a \u200bnote.
\nOPEC+ oil-producing countries will likely agree to a further hike in their output targets from August when \u200cthey meet on Sunday, sources said on Wednesday.
\nUBS on Thursday cut its Brent forecasts citing the US-Iran memorandum of understanding and the subsequent increase in oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
\nIt cut its average Brent price forecast for the September quarter \u200bby $25 and for \u200bthe December quarter by $10. The bank now expects the benchmark to average $80 a barrel during the second half of the year and $75 in \u200b2027.
\n\u201cDespite this, we believe it is premature to assume a full \u200bnormalisation, & see price risk skewed to the upside noting that inbound tankers to the Persian Gulf have lagged outbound tankers,\u201d UBS said.
\nThe next meeting between Iran and US negotiators will take \u200bplace after funeral processions for Iran\u2019s late Supreme \u200bLeader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 9, Qatar\u2019s Foreign Ministry also said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brent hits four-month low at $70.80 while WTI slips to $67.74 a barrel Dubai Oil prices dropped about 1% on Thursday, down for a third consecutive day, after Qatar said Iran and the \u200bUS had made progress in indirect talks focused on the Strait of \u200cHormuz, which handled one-fifth of global oil supply before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-554197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n