Oil falls on potential Iran-US ceasefire extension

Oil prices fell on Friday morning, driven by hopes of a possible 60-day US-Iran ceasefire extension.

Brent crude futures were down 1.2 percent at $92.57 a barrel by 02:30 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate reached $87.54 a barrel, down 1.5 percent.

Prices have slipped by more than 8 percent this week, with Brent hitting a new low of $87.11, down from highs of $109.47 last week.

The US and Iran still need to work out several sticking points before an agreement on the war can be reached, US Vice-President JD Vance told the BBC.

He said negotiators were “going back and forth on a couple of language points”, which include the “question of enrichment”.

The US and Iran reached an agreement on Thursday to extend their ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping through the strait, Reuters reported, quoting unnamed sources. However, the US President Donald Trump has not approved it.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Friday that the text of the possible peace plan has not been finalised yet.

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The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through which a fifth of the world’s daily oil supplies usually pass, has upended global energy trading.

Oil prices have see-sawed since the conflict began on February 28, rising as high as $126 a barrel. Before then Brent was trading at about $70.

The GCC stock markets are closed due to Eid holidays, with the Saudi stock exchange reopening on Sunday.