(Bloomberg) -- Oil fell on anticipation that Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah would reach a cease-fire agreement, a deal that was announced after futures settled and which was expected to reduce the threat to crude flows from the Middle East.

West Texas Intermediate edged lower to settle beneath $69 a barrel, while Brent settled below $73. Both benchmarks had risen earlier in the session after Bloomberg reported key OPEC+ nations are discussing delaying planned production increases.

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Shortly after futures settled, President Joe Biden said Israel and the Lebanese militant group had reached a deal after weeks of US-mediated talks. Futures had declined during the regular session on reports that an agreement was imminent and on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that he was bringing the pact to a vote in Israel’s security cabinet Tuesday night. The deal may reduce Middle East supply risks, which have supported oil prices even amid widespread expectations of an oversupply of crude next year.

Prices may slide at least $3 a barrel if the cease-fire materializes, said Robert Yawger, director of the energy futures division at Mizuho Securities USA.

A truce “would imply that Iran gave the green light for Hezbollah to accept the cease-fire, which would probably make it less likely Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities with the backing of the Trump Administration,” Yawger said.

Buying activity from algorithmic-driven investors known as commodity trading advisers — or CTAs — prevented deeper declines, said Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist at TD Securities.

“Crude prices have displayed quite a bit of resiliency” against the news of a cease-fire, Ghali said. “We have just underwent a series of days in which CTAs have been contributing to the upside in crude prices. And in fact, we are seeing signs of buying exhaustion from this cohort that could fairly quickly morph into selling activity.”

Traders are also assessing President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of new tariffs on key trading partners. Trump’s announcement of the potential levies on Canada, Mexico and China initially sparked a rally in the dollar that weighed on commodities priced in the currency. A report that 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports may include crude triggered losses for Toronto oil equities.