Oil prices held steady at around 9 90 a barrel on Wednesday, but the prospect of increased supplies from Iran and the United States kept pressure on prices.
Brent crude futures fell 36 cents, or 0.4%, to دولار 90.42 a barrel during trading.
WTI crude fell 43 cents, or 0.4%, to دولار 88.93 a barrel.
Crude fell 2 percent on Tuesday as Washington resumed indirect talks with Iran on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
A deal might lift U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and add fast supplies to the market, but there are still unresolved issues.
Markets were also hit by the latest monthly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which raised its forecast for U.S. crude production to an average of 11.97 million barrels per day this year.
On the other hand, political risks appeared to have eased on Wednesday, according to several analysts. Commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch said: “concerns regarding a new escalation in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict appear to have eased somewhat, following recent diplomatic efforts which are limiting the impact of risks.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed steps might be taken to de-escalate the crisis following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and called on all sides to calm down.
U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute data.
(Archyde.com)
