WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after media reports suggested that talks in Vienna to revive the Iranian nuclear deal are nearing their conclusion.
Traders were also reacting to the inventory data and conflicting statements on the possible withdrawal of some Russian troops from the Ukrainian border.
Meanwhile, Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine accused Kyiv government forces of using mortars to attack their territory.
Benchmark Brent crude futures fell nearly 2 percent to $92.94 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were down 2.2 percent at $91.59.
'We will sooner or later need peaceful nuclear energy. If we do not pursue it . our independence will be harmed,' Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a televised speech amid negotiations with world powers to revive a 2015 nuclear pact.
'After weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement,' Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani announced on Twitter late on Wednesday but warned against celebrating too soon, pointing out that 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.'
Investors were also reacting to multiple reports contradicting Moscow's claim of partial troop pullback.
NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia was continuing to send troops to what is now the biggest concentration of forces in Europe since the cold war. A Russian invasion of Ukraine can happen anytime now, the White House said.
Risk appetite weakened in financial markets after a Russian news report of mortar fire in eastern Ukraine.
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