Investing.com – WTI crude oil prices settled lower Monday as investor concerns faded about a global supply shortage that followed a heated exchange between the U.S. and Iran.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for September delivery fell 37 cents to settle at $67.89 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent rose 0.03% to trade at $73.10 a barrel.
Concerns about the prospect of an oil supply shortage returned Monday, albeit briefly, after President Donald Trump warned his Iranian counterpart, Hasan Rouhani, that threats against the U.S. would be met "with consequences few in history have suffered." Trump's tweet came as Rouhani said hostile U.S. policies towards Tehran could lead to "the mother of all wars."
Trump in May said the United States would leave the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, paving the way for sanctions, which are expected to hamper the Islamic Republic's Energy Industry, to resume.
Yet the prospect of a big drop in Iranian crude exports has waned in recent weeks as the U.S. has hinted waivers could be in the offing to some buyers of Iranian crude.
Some oil observers also cited escalating trade-war tensions between the U.S. and China as a headwind, keeping some investors sidelined amid remarks over the weekend at the G20 Finance Ministers Summit from U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
"It’s definitely a realistic possibility,” Mnuchin said of Trump following through on a threat to impose tariffs on all $500 billion worth of goods the U.S. imports from China each year.
Trump had threatened on Friday to impose tariffs on $500 billion of Chinese exports to the United States unless Beijing agreed major changes to its policies on technology transfer, industrial subsidy and joint ventures.
The timid start to the week for oil prices comes as data on Friday showed speculators continued to trim bullish on oil for the second-straight week.
CFTC COT data showed money managers reduced their net long positions in gold futures to 631,300 lots from 654,500 lots for the week ended July 17.