Oil prices slid this evening a day after a strong rally and as key crude exporter Iran said it held 'constructive' talks with the West regarding its controversial nuclear programme.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery dropped $1.28 to $69.31 a barrel, a day after soaring nearly $4 following well received US economic data.
Brent North Sea crude for November delivery was down $1.25 to $67.82 a barrel in London trading.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said talks between Iran and six major powers in Geneva today were held in a 'constructive' atmosphere.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator met officials from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in a villa overlooking Lake Geneva only a week after the disclosure of a second Iranian uranium enrichment plant. Iran has also carried out tests of missiles this week which it says could hit Israel.
Amid widening Western concerns about whether Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb, the international powers have urged it to give the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the previously secret nuclear site near the holy city of Qom.
Analysts have said that heightened tensions between Iran and the West threaten to disrupt oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran. Some 25% of the world's crude supplies flow through the strait.
Iran pumps about 3.8 million barrels of crude a day and is the third biggest global oil exporter after Russia and Saudi Arabia.
