The US said it will increase pressure on China to stop buying Iranian oil, as the White House seeks to enforce sanctions aimed at curbing the Islamic Republicโs nuclear activities.
Fresh violence erupted in a Kurdish city in western Iran and reports emerged of oil workers joining nationwide protests that have spread since the death of a 22-year-old woman last month in the custody of the nationโs so-called โmorality police.โ
Progress toward an Iranian nuclear deal has thrown the spotlight onto a sizeable cache of crude held by Tehran that could be swiftly dispatched to buyers in the event an agreement gets hammered out.
Oil prices have fallen to levels that donโt reflect the risk of disruptions to Russian exports or the ability of China to keep the coronavirus pandemic under control, according to the worldโs biggest independent crude trader.
Emissions of planet-warming methane from oil, gas and coal production are significantly higher than world governments claim, according to the International Energy Agency.
Oil was steady in Asian trading after a surprise decline in US crude inventories tightened the market further amid signs of strong demand in the worldโs biggest economy.
President Joe Biden spoke on Wednesday with King Salman of Saudi Arabia about ensuring stable energy prices as well as Mideast security, in light of recent attacks by Yemeni rebels, and the status of talks over Tehranโs nuclear program.
As they strain to restore oil production, OPEC and its allies are being left with a diminishing buffer of spare supplies -- potentially setting up crude prices for a sizzling summer.
Iran has insisted that the United States and its allies should promise to allow Tehran to export its crude oil as negotiations on restoring the tattered nuclear deal resume in Vienna.
More than 190 countries signed on the dotted line of the Paris Agreement in 2015, forming a new global consensus on the imperative to halt rising temperatures. The collective results since then havenโt been enough.
Oil stored in ships has been piling up off key Asian ports as a crackdown in China on private crude oil processors has blunted purchases and disrupted flows, including some US-sanctioned barrels from Iran.
The US government has sanctioned an Omani businessman for his participation in oil smuggling for Iran, with the proceeds going to destabilise the region.
Iranโs oil comeback, already taking longer than many traders expected, will be further complicated by last weekโs deadly drone attack on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, which the US, UK and Israel all blamed on Tehran.
The expected return of Iranian oil to the market as US sanctions are likely to be lifted over the next year will offer new opportunities for former buyers in Asia to reshuffle their oil import mixes. Significantly, the return of Iranian barrels will trigger a fierce battle among global suppliers for market share raising the risk of price drops, reported Fitch Solutions.
Oil slumped as a rising dollar pushed financial investors, who had piled into commodities to guard against inflation, toward the exits for other sectors.
Indonesia released on Friday an Iranian-flagged ship it had seized four months ago over suspected illegal transfer of crude oil, an Indonesian official and Iranian state media said on Saturday.