Oil Down Most Since 2020 Start as Some Argue Market Overbought on US-Iran Conflict

NEW YORK (Sputnik) – Global oil prices fell their most on Tuesday since the start of 2020 as some market participants argued that crude had risen too much, too fast on the US-Iran conflict, nearing four-month highs above $70 per barrel.

Brent, the global benchmark for crude, was down 64 cents, or nearly 1 percent, at $68.27 per barrel by 9:50 a.m. ET (14:50 GMT). It had risen a cumulative 4.5 percent in three prior sessions, hitting $70.75 on Monday, its highest since mid-September. Brent’s run-up was largely driven by the US killing of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani on Friday that set the two countries on a collision course, putting the Middle East and the world on the edge.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the US crude benchmark, slid 40 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $62.87.  WTI had risen more than 3 percent net over the past three sessions, reaching a more than the eight-month high of $64.72 on Monday.

Oil prices have spiked in recent days on a rash of tensions following Soleimani’s killing last Friday on the outskirts of Baghdad. Iraq’s parliament voted to expel US forces from the country, prompting President Donald Trump to threaten Baghdad with sanctions. Rockets also fell all over Iraq on Monday, with no human casualties reported. Separately, fighting broke out in Libya.

Tehran and Washington, meanwhile, exchanged strike threats. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “harsh revenge” for Soleimani’s death while Trump said he has identified 52 targets in Iran, including sites of cultural prominence, in a plan for a counter-attack that may be “disproportionate.”

Sourse: sputniknews.com