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08:36, 17-Jul-2018
Oil prices decline as fears over Iran sanctions ease
Updated
08:29, 20-Jul-2018
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Oil prices went down on Monday as a senior US official has reportedly said that the US will consider some waivers on Iran sanctions.
The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery lost 2.95 US dollars to settle at 68.06 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery fell 3.49 dollars to close at 71.84 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that the US wants to avoid disrupting global oil markets as it re-imposes sanctions against Tehran and in certain cases will consider waivers for countries which need more time to wind down their oil imports from Iran, according to Reuters.
"We want people to reduce oil purchases to zero, but in certain cases if people can't do that overnight, we'll consider exceptions," Mnuchin said, clarifying some US officials' comments that there would be no exemptions.
On the data front, the number of rigs operating in US oil fields was unchanged at 863 last week, oilfield service firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly report on Friday.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency