By Sethuraman N R and Helen Clark
NEW DELHI/PERTH, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Oil prices were little changed on Monday after surrendering earlier gains, as optimism over talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was tempered by Iran’s insistence that the United States satisfy several demands before the waterway could reopen.
Brent crude futures stood at $83.54 a barrel, off 1 cent, by 0643 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 15 cents, or 0.2% to $78.03 a barrel.
Both benchmarks had fallen more than 7% last week on hopes that Iran and Oman were close to reaching a deal that would result in a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war.
While Iran said on Sunday that a deal with Oman was in its “final stages”, it reiterated that the waterway would only reopen once Washington met other conditions, including U.S. compensation for widespread U.S. attacks on Iran.
“Crude oil prices remain caught between opposing forces, as markets assess the possibility of a breakthrough over the Strait of Hormuz against Iran’s conditions for reopening the strategic waterway,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, founder of SS WealthStreet, a New Delhi-based research firm.
Iran and the U.S. are not engaged in talks and Tehran will not start them as long as Washington breaches an interim deal signed in June, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday.
Meanwhile, in a further threat to supply, the Iran-aligned Houthis said they had hit Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery on Sunday.
The attack came two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Sunni Muslim allies Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability from the U.S.-Israeli war on Shi’ite Iran.
Separately, the United Arab Emirates’ ADNOC said on Friday that 15 of its vessels had been attacked transiting the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the conflict.
“Any major progress towards restoring unrestricted shipping could exert downward pressure on oil prices, while a breakdown in negotiations or renewed supply disruptions could quickly revive the geopolitical risk premium,” Sachdeva said.
(Reporting by Helen Clark; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Sonali Paul)
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