Oil Industry Persian Gulf

Iran all but lost its battle Thursday to raise oil prices, and the biggest unresolved question at the year-end meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appeared to be whether the Iranians will abide by the agreement forged here. Oil ministers stressed late Thursday that no agreement on prices and production was imminent, however.

While the major military powers have convened in the Persian Gulf to assure the flow of oil from the Middle East, the oil world itself seems to have forgotten the tension. Oil prices continued a steep decline Monday amid signs that the market was again glutted. By the close of the trading day, some prices for crude oil had dropped below the levels that prevailed before OPEC's last meeting, in June. But traders and analysts were speculating that the bottom may have been reached.