Brent Crude Settles at $100.34 After Four-Day Slide on Iran Diplomacy Hopes and Easing Saudi Supply Fears

Brent crude settled at $100.34 per barrel on Monday, a 3.4% decline, after briefly dipping as low as $98.98 during the session, marking a fourth consecutive day of losses and an 11-day low. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures fell even harder, dropping 4.5% to close at $95.78 per barrel.

Two forces drove the selloff. President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that he would probably be open to meeting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this week, raising hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the US-Iran conflict. Separately, Trump administration officials indicated the president had decided against bombing Iran-allied Houthi militants in Yemen despite Saudi pressure, further reducing the perceived risk of an escalation that could disrupt Gulf shipping.

On the supply side, crude exports from Saudi Arabia showed a partial recovery, and flows through the Strait of Hormuz improved, easing the immediate fears that had pushed prices sharply higher in prior sessions. The market had initially surged after damage to Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, but traders reassessed that outage as less disruptive than first feared as shipments began to normalize.