Oil prices slide as Trump talks up US-Iran progress

Brent fell by around $45 a barrel in the second quarter of this year, its largest quarterly drop since the global financial crisis in 2008.

US crude futures, meanwhile, fell by around $31 a barrel, their largest quarterly decline since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic crushed global oil demand.

The declines followed progress towards ending the Middle East conflict, after sharp gains in March triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

Meanwhile, OPEC+ oil-producing countries will likely agree on a further hike in their output targets from August when they meet on Sunday, three sources said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York, Seher Dareen in London, Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru, Mohi Narayan in New Delhi and Georgina McCartney in Houston; Editing by Mark Potter, Chris Reese and Paul Simao)