Oil falls as investors await clarity after Iran-Israel halt attacks

Brent crude futures fall $1.33, or 1.4%, to $92.92 a barrel

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, ‌erasing most of the previous session's gains, after Iran and Israel said they had halted attacks on each other following an appeal from US President Donald Trump, though both sides warned they could resume hostilities.

Brent ​crude futures were down $1.33, or 1.4%, at $92.92 a barrel at 0741 GMT, while ​US West Texas Intermediate declined $1.73, or 1.9%, to $89.57 a barrel.

"In the meantime, global oil inventories keep depleting and ​as data, whether weekly or monthly, becomes available, realization of dangerously low oil stockpiles worldwide could intensify ‌the ⁠race for available barrels pushing Brent back above $100 once again," Varga said.

Tehran has continued to block most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas. Washington has imposed its own blockade of ​Iranian ports.

Read: Oil prices gain over 5%

Also helping ​to keep a lid ⁠on prices was a drop in China's imports of crude, which were down 29% to their lowest levels in eight years last month. ​

In April, imports fell to a of 9.3 million bpd, with ​refiners in ⁠the world's largest oil importer to offset an even steeper decline from an average of 11 million bpd prior to the US-Israeli war on Iran.

On Monday, US forces disabled an ⁠unladen oil ​tanker in the Gulf of Oman after it attempted ​to sail to an Iranian port in violation of the ongoing blockade against Iran, the US military said.