🔺Oil prices fall to $70; expectations of surplus oil in the markets ▪Brent, the benchmark oil price, fell by about 1% on Thursday to reach $70.80; while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also dropped by the same amount, falling below $68. ▪Both benchmarks also fell by more than 1% in Wednesday’s trading, reaching their lowest level in four months. ▪An important point is that the price of “Murban,” a benchmark for oil pricing in the Middle East and one of the main criteria, has fallen to below $66, down 3.4% on the current day. ▪The drop in oil prices accelerated after Qatar said that Iran and the United States, in their indirect negotiations focused on the Strait of Hormuz, had made progress.