Brent North Sea crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, rose above $90 on Tuesday as hopes of a US-Iran agreement to bring the war to an end continued to diminish.

Brent reached $90.02 a barrel, a gain of more than 2.5% from Monday, while the main U.S. contract, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), jumped 2.7% to $84.32 a barrel.