Oil futures fell on Friday after Iran reaffirmed its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and amid expectations that major producers are set to agree to raise their output this weekend.
Brent crude futures were down 22 cents, or 0.32%, to $68.58 a barrel by 0445 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 12 cents, or 0.18%, to $66.88.
Trade was thinned by the U.S. Independence Day holiday.
U.S. news website Axios reported on Thursday that the U.S. was planning to meet with Iran next week to restart nuclear talk, while Iran Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran remains committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"Thursday's news that the U.S. is preparing to resume nuclear talks with Iran, and Araqchi’s clarification that cooperation with the U.N. atomic agency has not been halted considerably eases the threat of a fresh outbreak of hostilities," said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.
Araqchi's comments came a day after Tehran enacted a law suspending cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"But the price correction may have to wait till Monday, when the U.S. reopens from a long weekend and takes in Sunday's OPEC+ decision, which is likely to be another 411,000 barrels per day target hike in August," Hari said.
OPEC+, the world's largest group of oil producers, is set to announce an increase of 411,000 bpd in production for August as it looks to regain market share, four delegates from the group told Reuters.
Meanwhile, uncertainty over U.S. tariff policies was renewed as the end of a 90-day pause on higher levy rates approaches.
Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on goods sent to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual trade deals.
President Donald Trump told reporters before departing for Iowa on Thursday that letters would be sent to 10 countries at a time, laying out tariff rates of 20% to 30%.
Trump's 90-day pause on higher U.S. tariffs ends on 9 July, and several large trading partners have yet to clinch trade deals, including the European Union and Japan.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Thursday against a network that smuggles Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil and on a Hezbollah-controlled financial institution, the Treasury Department said.
Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with President Trump and other officials at The White House, however, to discuss de-escalation efforts with Iran, media reports said.
Trump also said on Thursday that he would meet with representatives of Iran "if necessary".
Separately, Barclays said it raised its Brent oil price forecast by $6 to $72 per barrel for 2025 and by $10 to $70 a barrel for 2026 on an improved outlook for demand.
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As Iran and the United States continue with nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, Tehran’s extensive ballistic missile programme remains a central point of contention.
Further Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are taking place in Geneva on Thursday (26 February) as diplomacy resumes over Tehran’s nuclear programme following earlier mediation efforts. But will the indirect talks move Iran-U.S. negotiations closer to a deal, and what should be expected from the meeting?
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing why Tehran has not moved toward limiting its nuclear programme even as Washington expands its military presence across the Middle East.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Geneva on Monday ahead of a second round of indirect nuclear talks with the United States, according to Iranian state media.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran are escalating, with Washington ordering a significant military build-up in the region and multiple countries evacuating diplomatic staff amid fears of further instability.
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in Brazil’s Minas Gerais state has risen to 46, authorities said, with 21 people still reported missing. The storms triggered landslides and widespread flooding, displacing thousands across Juiz de Fora and Uba.
The situation in Cuba was heating up and called for restraint following a deadly incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat off the coast of the Caribbean island, the Kremlin said on Thursday (26 February).
Pakistani air strikes hit a weapons depot on the western outskirts of Kabul overnight, triggering hours of secondary explosions that rattled homes across the Afghan capital and left residents fearing further violence.
Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab and Ombudsman Alfredo Ruiz tendered their resignations to the National Assembly on Wednesday. Neither official has publicly provided reasons for stepping down.
Paramount Skydance emerged as the winner in a months-long battle to acquire Warner Bros Discovery after streaming giant Netflix on Thursday refused to raise its bid for the storied Hollywood studio.
Global debt surged to a record $348.3 trillion at the end of 2025, after nearly $29 trillion was added over the year, marking the fastest annual increase since the pandemic, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) report released on Wednesday.
Millions of Colombian roses have arrived in the United States just in time for Valentine’s Day, keeping the country on track as the world’s second-largest flower exporter. Between 15 January and 9 February, Colombia shipped roughly 65,000 tons of fresh-cut blooms.
Russia’s car market is continuing to receive tens of thousands of foreign-brand vehicles via China despite sanctions imposed after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, a journalistic investigation has found.
Türkiye’s national energy company, TPAO, has struck a new cooperation deal with U.S. energy giant Chevron, signing a memorandum of understanding to explore joint oil and gas exploration and production opportunities, the Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Ministry announced on Thursday.
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