Oil prices fell nearly 7% on Monday as optimism grew that the United States and Iran were moving closer to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even though
Oil prices fell nearly 7% on Monday as optimism grew that the United States and Iran were moving closer to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even though Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down $7.24, or almost 7%, at $96.30 a barrel at 2:29 p.m. ET (1843 GMT) and U.S. West Texas Intermediate CLc1 futures were down $6.30, or 6.5%, at $90.88.
Trading volumes were light due to the U.S. Memorial Day holiday.
Iran's top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar's prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said Monday.
Both sides said they have made progress on a memorandum of understanding that would halt the war and give negotiators 60 days to reach a final deal.
'GET SOME OIL MOVING'
"Even though it's not done, there seems to be some hope that we will start to get some oil moving through the Strait of Hormuz," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group.
But Rory Johnston, founder of the Commodity Context newsletter, sounded a note
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