Oil prices extended their decline on Monday, with crude slipping toward $82 per barrel—its lowest level in a week—as hopes grew that tensions in the Middle East may soon ease. President Trump said the US was engaged in “good talks” with Iran and that a deal was possible, while cautioning that American strikes would resume if negotiations broke down.
The US halted its military strikes on Iran on Friday after nearly two weeks of hostilities, and Tehran announced it had suspended its retaliatory operations in response. Iran also said it had entered discussions with Oman over navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
Supply conditions improved as well, after crude loadings restarted at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast—a key export route for Kazakh oil that had recently been disrupted by Ukrainian drone attacks.
At the same time, Houthi militants claimed they had targeted facilities linked to Saudi Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu, though neither the Saudi government nor Aramco confirmed the attacks.
