Brent crude futures were down 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $91.01 a barrel at 1:35 p.m. GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 9 cents, or about 0.1%, to $86.82. Both benchmarks lost more than $2 earlier in the session.
Oil prices gained about 4% last week due to escalating geopolitical tensions.
Israel announced on Sunday that it had withdrawn more soldiers from southern Gaza. The country has reduced its troops in Gaza since the start of the year to relieve reservists and is under increasing pressure from its allies to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Meanwhile, ceasefire talks were revived as Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt for negotiations ahead of the Eid holiday, although a Hamas official said on Monday that No progress had been made in a new round of talks.
Among the factors affecting the outlook for oil demand, a U.S. jobs report released Friday suggests the economy finished the first quarter on strong footing, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to delay cutting oil rates. interest this year. Investors will look to consumer price index data from the U.S. and China this week for further clues on the timing of possible Fed rate cuts and to gauge the economic health of both the world’s largest consumers of oil. Right now, the market doesn’t physically have enough of it to justify a price ranging from $90 a barrel to $100, said John Evans of broker PVM.
“But given the powder keg nature of the current geopolitical crises in the Middle East and Ukraine/Russia and the greater interest of big financiers, the downside potential is also limited at present,” he said. added.
Brent crude futures were down 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $91.01 a barrel at 1:35 p.m. GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 9 cents, or about 0.1%, to $86.82. Both benchmarks lost more than $2 earlier in the session.
Oil prices gained about 4% last week due to escalating geopolitical tensions.
Israel announced on Sunday that it had withdrawn more soldiers from southern Gaza. The country has reduced its troops in Gaza since the start of the year to relieve reservists and is under increasing pressure from its allies to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Meanwhile, ceasefire talks were revived as Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt for negotiations ahead of the Eid holiday, although a Hamas official said on Monday that No progress had been made in a new round of talks.
Among the factors affecting the outlook for oil demand, a U.S. jobs report released Friday suggests the economy finished the first quarter on strong footing, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to delay cutting oil rates. interest this year. Investors will look to consumer price index data from the U.S. and China this week for further clues on the timing of possible Fed rate cuts and to gauge the economic health of both the world’s largest consumers of oil. Right now, the market doesn’t physically have enough of it to justify a price ranging from $90 a barrel to $100, said John Evans of broker PVM.
“But given the powder keg nature of the current geopolitical crises in the Middle East and Ukraine/Russia and the greater interest of big financiers, the downside potential is also limited at present,” he said. added.