Yahoo Finance Oil Prices Surge amid Market Tightening, Upcoming Iran Sanctions
Investing.com - Oil prices surged on Monday, as upcoming U.S. sanctions on Iran and tightening global supply weighed on investors.
West Texas Crude oil futures for November rose 1.68% to $71.97 a barrel as of 4:25 AM ET (8:25 GMT). Meanwhile Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., increased 1.93% to $79.75.
Prices of oil have been rising in recent months over concern of supply tightening due to U.S. sanctions against Tehran, which are expected to go into effect on November 4 and have already caused Iran’s crude exports to fall.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia pushed back against a call last week by U.S. President Donald Trump to lower prices.
"I do not influence prices," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC energy ministers gathered in Algiers. The group of oil producers is in discussion about rising output to counter falling Iranian supplies but made no formal recommendation for any additional supply boost at its Sunday meeting.
A potential tightening in U.S. markets sparked investor concern as well.
Although U.S. oil production is near a record high of 11 million barrels per day (bpd), commercial crude oil inventories are at their lowest since early 2015. Decreased drilling activity could point towards a future slowdown in production, with the oil rig count falling by 2 to 1,053 last week.
In other energy trading, Gasoline RBOB Futures rose 1.70% at $2.0362 a gallon, while heating oil increased 1.68% to $2.2680 a gallon. Natural gas futures slipped 0.30% to $2.965 per million British thermal units.
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