Oil prices fell after US President Donald Trump announced that he had instructed the Pentagon to postpone strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
The cost of June futures contracts for North Sea Brent On the ICE exchange In London, it fell from $108.2 to $93. Oil then partially recovered its losses, but as of 15:00 Moscow time, it was still trading below the $100 level.
Bloomberg wrote that the prices of US oil, West Texas Intermediate crude and gas on European exchanges also fell. The Moscow Stock Exchange index fell by 1.9% to 2,810.3 points, which is consistent with indicators in early March.
On February 28, the United States and Israel began launching strikes on Iran, and Iran began launching missiles and drones at Gulf states allied with the United States. Iran also announced that it will close the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of the world’s oil supplies pass.
In order to slow the rise in global prices, the United States temporarily eased sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil. US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent estimated Russia’s income from easing sanctions at about two billion dollars. He said that this is the amount the Russian budget spends in one day.