Market Close: Feb 17 Down

• West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery fell $1.90, or 2%, to settle at $91.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
• April Brent crude lost $1.84, or 1.9%, at $92.97 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. Both WTI and Brent ended Monday at their highest since September 2014.
• March natural-gas futures fell 4.9% to $4.486 per million British thermal units after posting a gain of 9.5% Wednesday.
• March gasoline fell 1.1% to $2.649 a gallon, while March heating oil lost 2.5% at $2.786 a gallon.

Market drivers

Oil futures temporarily trimmed a decline after the U.S. envoy to the United Nations was quoted as saying that there was evidence on the ground that Russia was preparing for an “imminent invasion” of Ukraine. Russia earlier this week said it was withdrawing troops from near the Ukraine border. But NATO and U.S. officials said that Russia instead increases its forces near Ukraine by 7,000 troops.

Oil fell late Wednesday after Reuters reported that Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Bagheri Kani tweeted that after weeks of intensive talks “we are closer than ever to an agreement.” If the 2015 agreement with Iran is revived and economic sanctions are lifted, Iran may resume oil exports. The oil market is obviously extremely tight and prices “could already be in triple-figure territory if not for the nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in a market update.

In a Thursday research note, analysts at RBC Capital Markets reiterated their view that if a new agreement is reached, Iran’s exports would likely climb by 500,000 barrels in six months, and by 1 million barrels in 12 months. Meanwhile, uncertainty around Ukraine and the potential for supply disruptions from Russia have served to build on the premium for nearby Brent crude futures, noted Carsten Fritsch, commodity analyst at Commerzbank, with the spread between the front month and the contract due in 12 months widening to more than $12. “Market participants are willing in other words to pay record-high premiums for oil deliverable at short notice because they continue to expect delivery outages,” he said.

Natural-gas prices, meanwhile, declined after Wednesday’s rally. The Energy Information Administration reported Thursday that U.S. suppliers of the fuel fell  190 billion cubic feet last week.