Iran General NewsOil picks up on Iran after slump on high...

Oil picks up on Iran after slump on high US stocks

-

Reuters: Oil rebounded on Friday as worries over Iran’s nuclear row with the West resurfaced, after prices slumped to the lowest level in nearly two months on healthy fuel stocks in top consumer the United States. By Neil Chatterjee

SINGAPORE, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Oil rebounded on Friday as worries over Iran’s nuclear row with the West resurfaced, after prices slumped to the lowest level in nearly two months on healthy fuel stocks in top consumer the United States.

U.S. light, sweet crude for September delivery rose 74 cents at $70.80 a barrel by 0831 GMT, after sliding $1.83 or 2.5 percent on Thursday to its lowest since late June. London Brent was up 64 cents to $72.22 a barrel, after a $1.50 slide.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on Thursday he expected the U.N. Security Council would “take up its responsibilities” and impose sanctions if Tehran did not stop its enrichment programme.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said earlier on Thursday Iran could not abandon its nuclear programme while the United States was developing new atomic bombs every year, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. Traders fear Iran could retaliate to potential sanctions by disrupting oil flows.

Crude prices have still shed more than 7 percent after falling for six of the previous eight sessions as a ceasefire took hold in the Middle East and BP shut in only half of its 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Prudhoe Bay oilfield.

Traders had feared the supply loss from the biggest oilfield in the U.S. might lead to a large drop in crude inventories in the world’s largest oil market , but data on Wednesday showed a decline of 1.6 million barrels, in line with forecasts.

Crude stocks have fallen from the eight-year high reached earlier this year, but remain higher than almost any time since 1999, giving refiners a sizeable supply buffer to guard against any unexpected disruptions.

Producers cartel OPEC will not cut production or formally return to its quota system for at least the rest of 2006 as it works to stabilise oil prices, the group’s president Edmund Daukoru said Thursday.

“I don’t see a return to quotas or cutting back in production for this year at least,” Daukoru told reporters.

“We will continue to produce to show the market there is an excess in production and that high prices are more a result of limits in refining capacity.”

FUND SELL-OFF

Prices of other commodities also slid on Thursday, with copper losing 3 percent and gold more than 2 percent.

“A synchronised fall can be a coincidence but in these days where fund managers have large amounts invested in commodity markets that may not be the case,” said Tobin Gorey of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

“Some investors will probably be sitting on substantial profits.”

Crude prices have also dropped this week as fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East eased after a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah moved into a fifth day on Friday. The United Nations has received substantial offers of peacekeeping troops for Lebanon.

But the risk of hurricanes affecting U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico and disrupted supplies from OPEC-producer Nigeria continue to provide support.

A Lebanese worker was kidnapped in Nigeria on Wednesday, part of a wave of militant attacks that have slashed its output.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

Iran ‘pragmatists’ proposed nuclear halt-diplomats

Reuters: Iranian leaders received and rejected in May a...

Women to be hanged, stoned to death in Iran

Iran Focus: Tehran, Dec. 26 – Iranian press have...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you