Iran says boosting oil exports depends on future demand

Brent crude, reflecting the price of Global oils, dipped 6 cents to close at $37.22 a barrel in London. According to Bloomberg, UN’s nuclear monitors concluded their investigation just last month into the country’s atomic-weapon technologies.

With most imports from Iran to Saudi Arabia going through ports in the United Arab emirates, the shipping industry may face a cutback in cargo, and hopes for a boom due to the lifting of worldwide sanctions on Iran may be dashed.

Iran has repeatedly said it plans to raise oil output by 500,000 barrels per day post sanctions, and another 500,000 bpd shortly after that, to reclaim its position as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ second-largest producer.

Marketmen said the rise in crude oil futures was largely in tandem with firming trend in Asia after crude kingpin Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran following a row over Tehran’s execution of a Shiite cleric. The last four times crude oil prices had a sharp rebound, it was followed by a recession. Venezuela has joined others in calling for meetings between OPEC and non-OPEC nations to stem the slide in crude prices, a proposal Iran has rebuffed, rejecting any threat to its market share.

Oil prices are likely to remain about where they are until either production drops or the world economy perks up and drives demand higher.

The amount of additional Iranian crude reaching foreign buyers will depend on conditions in an oil market oversupplied by 2.5 million to 3 million barrels a day, the Iranian Oil Ministry’s Shana news agency reported on Saturday, citing Mohsen Ghamsari, the head of worldwide affairs at state-run National Iranian Oil Co.

US crude’s West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished down nearly 1 percent, pressured by worries that record inventories could swell further at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub.

Iran is trying to capitalize on market opportunities in India and China, given an increased supply.

A year ago after oil prices had halved in six months analysts were forecasting a price recovery in 2015 while many traders were busy shorting the market.

DALLAS (AP) – It turns out that thanks to a glut of crude, even tension between two big oil-producing countries isn’t enough to drive prices higher.

Morgan Stanley said in its outlook for next year that “headwinds are growing for 2016 oil”. He predicts crude oil to trade at an average of $40 per barrel in the first half of 2016, and at around $55-$60 per barrel in the fourth quarter.