Oil prices fall amid recession fears

Oil prices fell today, Friday, in light of recession fears and the rise of the dollar, although losses were limited due to supply concerns after a new general mobilization campaign in Russia and an apparent faltering in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal.

By 0325 GMT, Brent crude futures fell 41 cents, or 0.5%, to $90.05 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 30 cents, or 0.4%, to $83.19 a barrel.

And according to “Reuters”, the prices of the month-to-month contract for the nearest maturity of Brent crude fell 1.5%, while West Texas Intermediate crude prices fell by 2.3% this week.

Central banks around the world raised interest rates in the wake of the Federal Reserve (the US central bank) raising interest rates by 75 basis points for the third time on Wednesday, which raised the risks of an economic slowdown.

A senior US State Department official said that efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 were stymied by Iran’s insistence on closing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s investigations related to the discovery of uranium traces at undeclared sites, which reduced expectations of the return of Iranian oil to the market.