Oil depreciated on Tuesday after Iran said it was prepared to take any necessary steps to clinch a deal with the United States ahead of nuclear talks later this week, with Brent futures shedding 72 cents or 1.0 per cent to trade at $70.77 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures declining by 68 cents or 1.0 per cent to $65.63 a barrel.
Iran, the third-biggest crude producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the US will hold a third round of nuclear talks on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.
America wants Iran to give up its nuclear programme, which the country has denied trying to develop an atomic weapon.
Meanwhile, Iran’s deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday that it was ready to take any necessary steps to reach a deal with the US.
However, the US State Department is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their families from its embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, as concerns mount about the risk of a military conflict with Iran.
The US has deployed a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic. The American president, on February 19, said he was giving Iran about 10 to 15 days to make a deal.
Also, the US began collecting a temporary new 10 per cent global import tariff on Tuesday, but President Trump’s administration was working to increase it to 15 per cent, a development that has led to confusion after the country’s Supreme Court ruling.
On the supply front, trading houses and buyers of Venezuelan oil have chartered the first very large crude carriers to export from the South American country since a supply deal began between the US and Venezuela. This is set to speed up shipments from March while boosting deliveries to India.
The European Commission will submit a legal proposal to permanently ban Russian oil imports on April 15.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 11.4 million barrels in the week ending February 20, after falling by 609,000 barrels in the week prior. Official data from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) will be released later on Wednesday.