Oil prices rose at the start of the week, as negotiations between Iran and Oman over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz continued to falter.
Brent crude rose by about 1% to above $84 a barrel, after rising by more than 5% during the previous three sessions, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose by about 0.9% to $78.92 a barrel.
The rise comes as optimism fades that an agreement can be reached quickly to allow shipping to resume through the strait, amid ongoing disagreements over the terms of the proposed arrangements.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said over the weekend that an agreement with Oman to establish a shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz was very close, ruling out direct talks with the United States for the time being due to violations of a temporary peace agreement in June.
However, he warned that any agreement would not immediately reopen the waterway, limiting hopes for a swift return to disrupted energy flows.
For his part, President Donald Trump indicated he was exercising patience, telling Axios on Sunday that the United States was now de-escalating. These remarks come weeks after Trump threatened to launch strikes against Iran, then backed down.
Washington has repeatedly stated that it is engaged in talks regarding the management of the Strait of Hormuz, a claim disputed by Tehran. On Saturday, Iran reiterated its conditions for the full reopening of the strait, including an end to the US naval blockade, the lifting of sanctions, and the payment of war reparations.
The market is on alert
Before the war, about one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas was shipped through Hormuz to global markets.
The market avoided being subjected to extreme pressure due to a number of factors, including weak Chinese demand and the release of emergency reserves, but safety margins in supplies have become dangerously weak.
The risk of an escalation across the Middle East remains high, keeping the market on edge.
In a related context, Saudi Aramco's industrial security firefighting teams extinguished a fire that broke out at dawn on Sunday in one of the facilities belonging to the Jazan refinery, without any injuries being recorded, according to a statement issued by the Saudi Ministry of Energy.
The statement did not specify the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage, nor did it indicate the incident's impact on refinery operations or production rates. The ministry added on its X platform that the relevant authorities are completing the necessary procedures to address the incident.
The Jazan petrochemical complex and refinery is located on the Red Sea coast in southwestern Saudi Arabia and is valued at $21 billion.
