By Shadia Nasralla
LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $5 a barrel on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump held off a fresh attack on Iran as he sought a quick deal with Iran, which said that no talks were planned.
Brent crude futures fell $5.04, or 5.73%, to $82.89 by 1218 GMT, having retraced some losses from a three-week low hit earlier in the session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $78.90 a barrel, down $5.77, or 6.8%. Both benchmarks marked their biggest daily falls
in absolute and percentage terms since last Monday.
The two contracts jumped more than 20% last month after fighting between the U.S. and Iran resumed and attacks on several tankers around Oman heightened security concerns, deterring shippers from entering the Gulf to load oil.
Iran said on Monday there were no talks under way with the United States and no plans for any meetings, contradicting U.S. President Donald Trump who had cited talks he said would take place as justification for calling off attacks, repeating previous patterns.
CAN A DEAL HAPPEN?
"Given the persistent depletion of global oil inventories, we would expect firmer prices during August — unless, of course, oil flows in the region recover meaningfully and sustainably, while also keeping a watchful eye on signs of weakening demand. Under the current VVV trading conditions (volatile, vicious, and violent), the odds of getting it embarrassingly wrong are reasonably high," said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
Two tankers laden with Saudi oil crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait out of the Red Sea over the weekend but traffic slowed in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, shipping data showed.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations has reported three tanker attacks since Saturday.
On Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, approved an oil production quota increase of around 188,000 barrels per day from September.
Export disruptions from the Gulf, Russia and Kazakhstan, caused by the Iran and Ukraine wars, have meant successive monthly OPEC+ hikes over most of this year have not translated into extra oil on the market.
(additional reporting by Florence Tan and Sam Li; Editing by Barbara Lewis and David Holmes)
