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U.S. oil prices slumped nearly 1 percent to below $74 a barrel in opening trade on Monday after the U.N. brokered a truce to end fighting in the Middle East and BP decided to keep running half its Prudhoe Bay oilfield.

U.S. light, sweet crude was down 75 cents at $73.60 a barrel by 2205 GMT, reversing late Friday gains.

BP said at the weekend that it had decided to carry on operating the western portion of its giant Prudhoe Bay oilfield in Alaska, maintaining 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) of output as it replaces corroded pipelines on the eastern section.