New York, June 30 (QNA) - Oil prices are on track to post their steepest quarterly decline since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The August Brent crude futures contract, which expires on Tuesday, settled down 23 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $72.92 a barrel. Meanwhile, the August West Texas Intermediate contract fell $1.25, or 1.8 percent, to settle at $69.50 a barrel.

Both benchmarks were trading close to the levels seen on Feb. 27, the day before the outbreak of the Israel-US war against Iran.

Trading in the August Brent contract concluded on Tuesday, with the September Brent contract becoming the front-month benchmark, trading at $73.31 a barrel. (QNA)