Oil falls below $109 on progress in Iran talks

Oil fell below $109 a barrel yesterday as signs of a deal over Iran's nuclear programme eased fears of oil supply disruptions and as a report predicted more misery for the Eurozone. The United Nations nuclear agency chief said yesterday he expected to sign a cooperation deal with Iran. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters after returning from Tehran, where he held talks with senior Iranian officials. Brent oil prices reversed early gains to trade 5 cents down at $108.76 a barrel by 1245 GMT and US crude slipped 40 cents to $92.17 a barrel.New sanctions Major powers will meet Iran today in Baghdad to discuss its nuclear programme, but tensions with the West remain high as the US Senate approved a package of new economic sanctions on Iran's oil sector on Monday. "The mere possibility of the negotiations failing is keeping markets on their toes," said David Wech from JBC Energy. Consultant Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix in Zug, Switzerland said the Baghdad meeting could set the tone for some time. "The IAEA and Iran seem to have made some progress in Tehran yesterday for a new momentum on inspections," he said. "Tomorrow's meeting should be a key input for the trading range of the next few weeks." Worries about the loss of supply from Iran, Opec's second largest producer, have kept Brent futures prices between $110 and $125 per barrel for most of 2012. Full embargo The European Union is due to impose a full embargo on Iranian oil imports from July and Washington is also pushing major Asian customers to cut Iranian oil purchases. But those worries have been overshadowed by a debt crisis in the Euro-zone and aggravated by a poor set of US and Chinese data, which have pushed oil below $110 during the past week.