Crude Continues To Recede Towards Pre-War Levels As US-Iran Make Progress In Peace Talks

Crude oil prices continued to recede towards pre-war levels on Tuesday as the United States and Iran remained engaged in peace negotiations in Switzerland.

The global benchmark Brent crude fell around 0.65 percent to trade near the $77.50 per barrel mark.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also declined 0.38 percent to $73.58 per barrel during Asian trading hours.

Brent crude was trading at around the $73 per barrel mark on February 27, a day before the war started.

The latest decline in oil prices came as the United States and Iran continued making progress on the diplomatic front.

The talks have so far resulted in the US agreeing to waive sanctions on Iran’s oil industry for a period of 60 days, during which the two sides will hold negotiations.

According to reports, the US and Iran have also agreed to devise a mechanism to end fighting between Israel and Lebanon.

The peace memorandum signed earlier this month has already led to the reopening of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

The talks are being led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, along with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Pakistan and Qatar are acting as mediators in the discussions.

According to a report by Bloomberg, at least three supertankers moved to transit the strait on Monday.

The tankers were carrying about 6 million barrels of Iranian crude. This is the largest volume of Iranian crude on its way out of Iran’s Kharg Island since the war started in late February.

According to experts, the full resumption of fuel supply from the West Asia region may take months, but crude oil prices have receded faster than expected.

Now, the biggest source of uncertainty remains the fate of the peace negotiations, which faced hiccups even before they commenced.

The negotiations briefly faced the threat of derailment last week after Vance delayed his visit to Switzerland.

Iran had reportedly shown reluctance to continue talks because of Israel’s ongoing military operations in Lebanon.

Oil prices had already softened last week after Washington and Tehran signed a peace memorandum. However, prices recovered towards the end of the week as renewed Israeli strikes in Lebanon raised concerns about the durability of the agreement.