• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 4 hours GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 7 days If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 22 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 11 days Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
Bullish Sentiment Brings $90 Oil Within Reach

Bullish Sentiment Brings $90 Oil Within Reach

Oil prices may soon climb…

AI Surge Has Big Tech Scrambling for Power Supply

AI Surge Has Big Tech Scrambling for Power Supply

U.S. utilities are struggling to…

Copper Atoms Key to Sustainable Methanol Production

Copper Atoms Key to Sustainable Methanol Production

Researchers have successfully converted carbon…

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. 

More Info

Premium Content

Oil Prices Drop After U.S. Lifts Sanctions On Some Iranian Officials

Blinken

Oil prices dropped around noon on Thursday, after the United States removed some Iranian oil officials from its list of designated persons subject to sanctions.

As of 12:48 p.m. EDT on Thursday, WTI Crude was down 0.44 percent at $69.65 and Brent Crude was trading down 0.46 percent at $71.88.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury said on Thursday it is removing several Iranian officials from its list of designated persons, including three directors of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Before the selling with the news of Iranian officials out of the sanctions list, oil prices were slightly higher after OPEC reiterated earlier today its forecast that global oil demand would jump in the second half of this year.

Global oil demand will rise by 6 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, led by strong consumption in China and the United States especially in the second half of 2021 with growing economies and border re-openings, OPEC said on Thursday, keeping its 2021 demand forecast unchanged from last month. 

Before OPEC’s monthly report was published, prices were lower as the market was still digesting the large fuel inventory build in the United States for the week to June 4. In gasoline, the EIA estimated on Wednesday an inventory build of 7 million barrels for the week to June 4. This compared with a build of 1.5 million barrels for the previous week.

“A third weekly reduction in crude stocks on rising refinery demand inadvertently led to a surge in gasoline and diesel stocks during a week were the rolling average of gasoline demand, despite the Memorial Day weekend, ticked lower for the first time in a month,” Saxo Bank said on Thursday.

“Overall, not a game changer, with the subsequent market weakness probably more due to cautionary profit-taking after WTI failed to hold onto gains above $70,” the bank’s strategy team noted.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment
  • Mamdouh Salameh on June 10 2021 said:
    Lifting US sanctions on three Iranian officials isn’t an earth-shaking event to cause oil prices to drop. It is most probably profit-taking or something else.

    Iran is going for broke. Either a total lifting of US sanctions against it or no direct negotiations with the United States over the nuclear deal.

    I strongly believe there will be no lifting of US sanctions even by 2023 or ever. The reason is that the positions of the United States and Iran are irreconcilable.

    Moreover, supporters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are going to have a landslide victory in the presidential elections on the 18th of June. They will do their very utmost to derail negotiations with the United States unless they get a deal on their own terms.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News