Forexpros – Oil futures remained lower on Monday, on the back of a broadly stronger U.S. dollar after the deadline for Greece to accept the terms of a second bailout passed without a resolution.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD97.44 a barrel, down 0.39% in early U.S. trade.

The commodity hit an earlier session high of USD97.77 and a low of USD96.63.

Earlier Monday, a spokesman for the European Commission said that Greece has gone beyond the deadline for finalizing talks on a second bailout and warned that Athens urgently needs to take a decision.

Investors remained jittery amid concerns over repeated delays in talks between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and coalition party leaders to discuss whether they can agree to conditions required by the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to meet the requirements for a EUR130 billion aid package.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Papademos said coalition members had agreed on some conditions such as wage cuts, but others still needed to be addressed.

Oil prices typically fall when the dollar strengthens as the dollar-denominated commodity becomes more expensive to investors holding other currencies.

Oil prices remained supported amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, as Iran continued to threaten military action in the stand-off with global powers over the country’s disputed nuclear program.

Over the weekend, Iran reiterated its threat to halt oil exports to Europe before a European Union embargo comes into force on July 1.

Meanwhile, concerns that Israel could launch an attack against Iranian nuclear installations increased after the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that Tehran would target any country used as a launch pad for attacks against it.

On the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery were up 0.5%, trading at USD115.16 a barrel, up USD17.72 from its U.S. counterpart.

The gap in price between the two contracts is pushing toward the higher end of a range between a nearly USD20.00 all-time high and a historical spread of USD1.00.

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