TOKYO – Oil prices rose for a third day on Tuesday, holding around one-week highs after jumping more than 3 percent the previous session as investors tempered previous expectations of an early return of oil exporter Iran to international crude markets.
Brent crude futures were up 14 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $68.60 a barrel, having jumped 3 percent on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate futures was up 8 cents at $66.13 a barrel, after gaining 3.9 percent the previous session.
Indirect negotiations between the United States and Iran are due to resume in Vienna this week. Talks were given another life after Tehran and the U.N. nuclear agency extended a monitoring agreement on the Middle Eastern country’s atomic program.
Worries that Iran was soon going to start selling oil if an agreement resulted in the lifting of U.N. and other sanctions on crude exports had pulled down prices earlier but talks have not been conclusive.
“US Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken poured cold water over the prospect of a revival, stating that there was no indication that Iran is willing to comply with nuclear commitments,” Sophie Griffiths, Market Analyst at OANDA, said in a client note.
