World oil prices rebound

Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday after starting the week with sizeable losses caused by Greece’s debt saga. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in August rose 29 cents to $58.62 a barrel compared with Monday’s close. Brent North Sea crude for August gained 77 cents to stand at $62.78 a barrel in London afternoon deals.

WTI sank $1.30 and Brent lost $1.25 on Monday. Greece confirmed it would fail to make a key IMF repayment due on Tuesday, fanning fears of a chaotic eurozone exit on the same day the country’s international bailout expires.

At the same time the European Commission said it had offered an eleventh hour deal to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to stave off a crisis which could rupture the eurozone and risks a knock-on effect on other troubled countries.

Oil traders were meanwhile also waiting to see if Iran and major world powers can reach a deal on curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme by the end of Tuesday, a deadline set by both sides.

Such an agreement would allow Western powers to remove sanctions, paving the way for more Iranian crude to hit the already oversupplied international market.

“For the oil market the Iran nuclear deal is fundamentally most important even though Greek turmoil will help to throw the oil market around from day to day,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief analyst at Commodities SEB Markets.