Meanwhile, the U.S. and Iran prepare for a third round of nuclear talks this week: File Image/Pixabay

A rout in the equities market due to economic uncertainty was cited as the reason oil prices on Monday remained relatively unchanged, after jumping almost 6 percent last week on U.S./Iran hostilities; however, two key benchmarks still maintained their strongest close since July.

Brent settled down 27 cents at $71.49 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate fell 17 cents to $66.31.

Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM, said, "With the next, and possibly last, round of the Iranian nuclear talks not until Thursday, focus is on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down import tariffs and the subsequent reaction from the government."

Varga was referring to a Tuesday halt of collections of tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and U.S. president Donald Trump declaring he would raise a temporary tariff from 10 percent to 15 percent on imports from all countries.

As usual, Iran was hardly the only geopolitical concern for traders; the failure of Russia and Ukraine to reach any degree of a peace agreement despite ongoing talks was highlighted on Monday by news  that Ukrainian forces launched targeted attack on Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline network Sunday night, causing a major fire at a key Transneft oil hub.

The drone operation disrupted Russian crude oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia, both of which rely on the pipeline's southern branch.

In other oil news on Monday, the Fuels Industry UK association called for urgent change in Britain's policy to protect its four remaining refineries from extinction, after that country's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero launched a call for evidence intended to publish a strategy for the downstream oil sector this autumn.

Fuels Industry UK said the call to evidence is "a vital opportunity to meaningfully address the challenges of a sector currently being driven to the brink" and recommended that the UK introduces a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to ensure imports carry the same carbon costs as UK-made fuels.