Investing.com - Crude oil prices pulled back on Tuesday, but remained supported near multi-year highs amid mounting unrest in Iran and as supply cut efforts by global oil producers continued to support.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude February contract was down 19 cents or about 0.31% at $60.23 a barrel by 09:50 a.m. ET (13:50 GMT), off a two-and-a-half year high of $60.73 hit earlier in the day.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for March delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was down 29 cents or about 0.43% at $66.61 a barrel, just off a nearly three-year peak of $67.29 hit overnight.
Iranian protesters attacked police stations late Monday, in their fourth day of demonstrations marking the biggest challenge to the country's clerical leadership since 2009.
Crude prices also continued to be supported by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia. The producers agreed in December to extend current oil output cuts until the end of 2018.
The deal to cut oil output by 1.8 million barrels a day (bpd) was adopted last winter by OPEC, Russia and nine other global producers. The agreement was due to end in March 2018, having already been extended once.
Elsewhere, gasoline futures were down 0.13% at $1.785 a gallon, while natural gas futures climbed 3.56% to $3.060 per million British thermal units.