Oil prices fall as mkt awaits Trump decision on Iran

TOKYO, May 8 (Reuters): Oil prices retreated from 3-1/2 year highs on Tuesday as investors waited on an announcement by President Donald Trump on whether the United States will reimpose sanctions on Iran.
Should Trump pull the United States out of a multi-nation agreement on Tehran's nuclear programme, Iranian crude exports could be hit, adding to tightness in the oil market, which is coming back into balance after years of glut.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 had dropped 78 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $69.95 a barrel by 0550 GMT. They settled above $70 for the first time since November 2014 on Monday.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 67 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $75.50, having jumped 1.7 per cent to settle at $76.17 a barrel in the previous session.
Trump said on Monday that a decision on whether to remain in the Iran nuclear deal or to impose sanctions would be announced at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Tuesday, four days earlier than expected.
"Until we get more clarity on Trump's intentions, we are unlikely to get further upside on crude," said Virendra Chauhan, oil analyst at Energy Aspects in Singapore.
"If we assume he goes back to 2012 sanctions, we estimate a loss of 0.4 million barrels a day of Iranian supply based on recent Iranian export numbers. Anything larger than this will be bullish," he added.