Oil Stabilizes at $72 Brent as US-Iran Peace Efforts Hold

Oil prices held steady near four-month lows this week as the US-Iran ceasefire and Doha peace talks remained intact ahead of the US holiday weekend. Brent settled at $72.10 and WTI at $68.83 after brief rebounds above $73 during renewed late-June strikes. Markets have largely priced out geopolitical risk following the rapid rebound in Middle East output to 14.6-15.0 million bpd and Goldman Sachs' forecast of pre-war Gulf flows by early July. Supply normalization through the Strait of Hormuz, including Kuwait's production surge and resumed Saudi tanker movements, has driven Brent toward its steepest quarterly decline since the pandemic.