“As far as emergency supplies are concerned, there is a debate going on, and all these tools are certainly on the table,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm told a news conference at the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) headquarters in Paris.
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Even thanks to this potential variant, the price of Mediterranean oil Brent fell by about one and a half percent on Thursday afternoon to almost $ 120 (2,695 crowns) per barrel. The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) light oil lost as much as 1.8 percent and sold for almost $ 113 a barrel.
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But oil prices remain highly volatile, Reuters said, with investors’ attention now focused on further tightening anti-Russian sanctions.
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However, according to Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch, the new sanctions are unlikely to have a significant impact on the oil market, as they are unlikely to include an embargo on Russian oil by the European Union.
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Concerns over supplies this week have been exacerbated by disruptions in oil exports from Kazakhstan due to storm damage caused by the oil terminal. The slow progress of talks on the renewal of Iran’s 2015 nuclear program, which would pave the way for increased oil exports from Iran, is also a concern.
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“Unless Iran is allowed to return to the market quickly, it will be difficult to avert further price increases,” said oil trader Tamas Varga of PVM. “Lifting restrictions on Iranian exports would help ease the huge tensions that currently exist in the oil market,” said consulting firm JBC Energy.
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