Oil prices little changed but set for steepest monthly and quarterly loss since 2020

By Scott DiSavino

June 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices were small changed connected Tuesday but were headed for their biggest monthly and quarterly losses since the COVID-19 pandemic successful aboriginal 2020, with investors eyeing imaginable U.S.-Iran talks successful Doha amid a strained interim ceasefire successful the four-month-old war.

Brent futures ‌rose 3 cents to $73.18 a tube astatine 10:51 a.m. EDT (1451 GMT), portion U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 30 cents, oregon 0.4%, to $70.45 a ‌barrel.

Both crude benchmarks were adjacent to wherever they were trading connected February 27, the time earlier the commencement of the U.S.-Israeli warfare connected Iran, erstwhile Brent closed astatine $72.48 a tube and WTI closed astatine $67.02.

"I wouldn't ​say the marketplace has priced retired a hazard premium, but antecedently stranded ships person go disposable with the summation successful ships moving retired of the Gulf, creating a impermanent question of caller supply," UBS expert Giovanni Staunovo said.

Morgan Stanley said it present models an implied planetary lipid marketplace surplus of 4.8 cardinal barrels per time successful 2027.

Top U.S. envoys who person arrived successful Doha volition not clasp a high-level gathering with Iran, a Qatari authoritative said connected Tuesday, casting uncertainty connected the advancement of efforts to bring a lasting ‌halt to the Iran warfare and afloat reopen the ⁠Strait of Hormuz. About 20% of planetary lipid supplies passed done the strait earlier the Iran war.

Instead, determination volition beryllium method talks this week connected issues including determination information that could aboriginal beryllium elevated to elder level, Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari ⁠told a media briefing.

The accomplishment of U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff successful Doha connected Tuesday followed exchanges of occurrence implicit the play that tested the June 17 interim accord betwixt the United States and Iran.

The 14-point pact allowed 60 days for the 2 sides to negociate a imperishable truce successful the struggle and to resoluteness thorny ​issues ​including the aboriginal of Iran's atomic programme.

FUTURES MILESTONES:

Tuesday's deficiency of terms question kept some crude benchmarks ​in technically oversold territory with Brent for 13 days successful a ‌row and WTI for 11 days successful a row.

The premium of futures for Brent implicit WTI fell to $2.14 a barrel, its lowest since May 2022. Analysts person said that erstwhile Brent's premium implicit WTI falls beneath astir $4 a barrel, it does not marque economical consciousness for vigor firms to nonstop ships crossed the water to prime up U.S. crude, which should effect successful little U.S. exports.

For the month, Brent was down astir 21% successful June aft dropping astir 19% successful May. That would beryllium its biggest monthly diminution since falling by a grounds 55% successful March 2020 owed to COVID request destruction.