Oil prices fall as U.S.-Iran talks are weighed and Gulf exports recover
Oil prices fell in Asian trading on Thursday, with West Texas Intermediate at $89.70 a barrel and Brent at $97.42, as investors continued to assess U.S.-Iran talks and Gulf export recovery.
Oil prices fell in Asian trading on Thursday as investors continued to assess developments in talks between the United States and Iran, alongside signs of a recovery in oil exports from the Gulf region.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 72 cents, or 0.80%, to $89.70 a barrel, while Brent futures dropped 61 cents, or about 0.62%, to $97.42 a barrel.
The decline followed gains of about $1 a barrel in Wednesday's session, at a time when Brent rose about 14% in September, while WTI increased about 5%.
Prices are under pressure as Gulf oil exports recover and Saudi Arabia has resumed loading tankers from the port of Yanbu, while Goldman Sachs estimated Gulf oil exports, including unmonitored shipments, at about 23.3 million barrels per day last week.
By contrast, supply concerns remain because of developments in U.S.-Iran talks, while OPEC+ is expected to keep its oil production targets for November unchanged at its meeting next Sunday.
U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed crude inventories rose by 922,000 barrels in the week ended Sept. 25 to 427.3 million barrels, compared with expectations for a 264,000-barrel decline.
