International oil prices fell on Monday 22 June following the conclusion of talks between the US and Iran in Switzerland, where Iranian officials said they had obtained waivers for oil and petrochemical exports.
The statements from Tehran eased fears of supply shortages in global energy markets.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Brent crude was trading at $79.96 a barrel (bbl) by 08:15 GMT, down $0.61, according to figures reported by Reuters.
The benchmark price had earlier climbed as high as $82.30 when trading began on Monday. This reflected market concerns about possible renewed conflict after US President Donald Trump threatened to resume military action against Iran and Iran announced a temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
West Texas Intermediate futures in the US stood at $77.20/bbl, up by $0.60 ahead of the contract’s expiry later in the day. The August contract, which is more actively traded, rose by $0.19 to $76.04/bbl.
Diplomatic mediation in Switzerland brought together senior officials from the US and Iran for their first round of discussions, which started on Sunday. Mediators said the meetings were held under a memorandum of understanding signed last week aimed at extending a fragile ceasefire, established in April, by at least another 60 days.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi stated his government had secured waivers allowing the export of oil and petrochemicals, the release of some frozen Iranian assets, and the development of a reconstruction and development plan for the country.
Iranian oil exports, halted earlier in the month due to a US naval blockade, have now resumed. The National Iranian Oil Company reported that more than 25 million barrels of Iranian oil had crossed the virtual blockade since Monday.
Other major oil producers in the Middle East have also increased supply in recent days. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq all offered extra oil to their customers. Iraq’s deputy oil minister for upstream affairs said on Sunday that the country intends to gradually boost crude production to between 4.2 million barrels per day (mbbl/d) and 4.3mbbl/d.
Elsewhere in the region, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed at least 20 people on Saturday, following the implementation of a ceasefire with Hezbollah, according to Lebanon’s state news agency NNA.
In a separate development, QatarEnergy confirmed an explosion and fire at the Barzan gas supply facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City on Sunday evening. Emergency teams contained the blaze, but 54 people were injured and 18 remain missing, according to authorities cited by Al Jazeera.
Qatar’s Ministry of Interior reported that the Qatari International Search and Rescue Group has been deployed to search for those unaccounted for.
Ras Laffan, located roughly 80km north of Doha, houses the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export facility.
QatarEnergy had previously invoked force majeure in some contracts. This was after the complex sustained damage during Iranian missile and drone attacks in March, affecting supply to customers in Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China.
Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported on Saturday that Ukrainian drones had struck Russia’s Tyumen oil refinery, located more than 2,000km from Ukraine in western Siberia. Industry estimates suggest the Tyumen refinery has the capacity to process around eight million tonnes of crude annually to produce gasoline and diesel.
