Oil prices were lower today as expectations are rising that the US and Venezuela will reach a deal easing sanctions on their crude exports. “The reported deal … would help to raise the country’s oil output from very depressed levels,” said William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist for Capital Economics. “But the sector requires enormous investment to return output to the levels seen only a decade ago,” Jackson added. “And this wouldn’t materially affect the deficit in the global oil market in the near term.” The U.S. last week imposed the first sanctions on owners of tankers carrying Russian oil priced above the Group of Seven’s price cap of $60 a barrel, an effort to close loopholes in the mechanism designed to deprive Moscow of revenue for its energy sales. WTI traded down $1.03 or -1.2% to close at $86.66. Brent traded down $1.24 or -1.4% to close at $89.65.