Oil prices rose on Tuesday, as Iran denied it had held talks with the United States to end the war in the Gulf, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claims.<\/p>\n
Angus Mordant | Reuters<\/p>\n
Oil\u00a0prices rose in early trade on Tuesday on supply fears, as\u00a0Iran\u00a0denied it had held talks with the United States to end the war in the Gulf, contradicting President\u00a0Donald Trump, who said a deal could be reached soon.<\/p>\n
Brent futures<\/a>\u00a0rose $1.06, or 1.1%, to $101 a barrel at 0001 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate<\/a> (WTI)\u00a0climbed $1.58, or 1.8%, to $89.71.<\/p>\n Crude futures dropped more than 10% on Monday, after Trump\u00a0said\u00a0he had ordered a five\u2011day delay to attacks he had threatened on Iran’s power plants, adding the U.S. had held productive talks with unnamed Iranian officials that had produced “major points of agreement”.<\/p>\n “By shelving the plan to strike Iranian power plants for five days, the U.S. effectively sucked much of the ‘war premium’ from the\u00a0oil\u00a0price,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.<\/p>\n “Today’s moderate bounce is just the market finding its footing in the mud. Traders are aware that while the missiles are on hold, the Strait of Hormuz is still far from a clear waterway.”<\/p>\n The war has all but halted shipments of about one-fifth of the world’s\u00a0oil\u00a0and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz. However,\u00a0two tankers\u00a0bound for India sailed through the strait on Monday.<\/p>\n Tehran\u00a0rejected\u00a0the claims of contact with Washington, dismissing them as an attempt to manipulate financial markets, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had launched new attacks on U.S. targets and denounced Trump’s comments as “worn\u2011out psychological operations.”<\/p>\n “Even with a possible decrease in tensions after (Monday’s) announcement from President Trump, we expect a price floor of $85\u2013$90 and a natural drift back to the $110 range until the Strait of Hormuz is restored,” Macquarie said in a note.<\/p>\n It added that if the strait remains effectively shut until the end of April, Brent could still reach $150 per barrel.<\/p>\n Fighting has damaged energy infrastructure across the region. In the latest attacks, a gas company office and a pressure\u2011reduction station were hit in Iran’s central city of Isfahan, while a projectile also\u00a0struck a gas pipeline\u00a0feeding a power station in Khorramshahr, the Iranian semi\u2011official Fars news agency reported.<\/p>\n The United States has temporarily waived sanctions on Russian and Iranian\u00a0oil\u00a0already at sea to ease shortages. Industry sources said traders have\u00a0offered\u00a0Iranian crude to Indian refiners at a premium to ICE Brent following Washington’s move.<\/p>\n The International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol\u00a0said\u00a0on Monday it is consulting Asian and European governments on possible further releases of strategic reserves “if necessary”.<\/p>\n Oil\u00a0executives and energy ministers at a conference in Houston\u00a0warned\u00a0of the longer\u2011term impact of the U.S.\u2013Israel war with Iran on the\u00a0global\u00a0economy, though U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright downplayed the crisis.<\/p>\n