US Hopes Saudi Arabia, Russia Can Offset Loss Of Iran Oil Supply By Tsvetana Paraskova Oil Price, Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, June 29, 2018

 

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry believes that Saudi Arabia and Russia will be able to boost their oil production to stabilize the oil market and compensate for losses of Iranian oil supply.

“I am comfortable that Saudi Arabia is going to be able to increase their production to... 11 million barrels per day going forward, and that Russia will be able to increase their production, so the worldwide crude market does have some stability,” Secretary Perry said at a press conference at the World Gas Conference in Washington, D.C.

“We look at this as an opportunity for the OPEC members to fill this gap, if you will,” he said, as carried by Reuters.

Earlier this week, analysts expected that Secretary Perry might ask his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak for more oil to compensate for lost supply from the Iranian sanctions when they meet this week at the World Gas Conference in Washington.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is said to be preparing to pump its highest-ever volumes of oil this month and next—around 11 million bpd of oil in July, and 10.8 million bpd in June.

The United States is pushing to cut as much Iranian oil off the market as possible, while Saudi Arabia and Russia were the masterminds of OPEC’s agreement last week, which was vague on the production boost and just said that the cartel and allies would aim for a 100-percent compliance rate instead of record-breaking more-than-100-percent compliance.

According to Saudi Arabia, this means that there would be reallocation in quotas. Related: Tehran: Taking Iran’s Oil Out Of The Market Is ‘Impossible’

“Some of the countries ... are not going to be able to produce, so the others will. And that implies there will be indirectly a reallocation,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Saturday.

In the past two months, U.S. President Donald Trump criticized OPEC twice for manipulating oil prices, calling the cartel out for oil prices that are ‘too high’.

On the day of the OPEC meeting last Friday, President Trump tweeted again: “Hope OPEC will increase output substantially. Need to keep prices down!”

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US Softens Stance On Countries Buying Iranian Oil

By Tsvetana Paraskova -

Oil Price, June 28, 2018, 5:00 PM CDT

The United States will work with countries importing Iranian oil on a case by case basis to get as many of them as possible “down to zero” by early November, the U.S. State Department said on Thursday, clarifying comments from earlier this week that suggested there wouldn’t be any waivers for Iran’s oil buyers.

Earlier this week, a senior State Department official said that the U.S. was pushing allies to cut oil imports from Iran to zero.

Asked by reporters in a teleconference call on Tuesday if there would be waivers granted, the official said “I would be hesitant to say zero waivers ever. I think the predisposition would be no, we’re not granting waivers.”

The market reacted to the possibility of ‘zero’ Iranian oil on the market and ‘no waivers’ with oil prices jumping later on Tuesday, on expectations that more Iranian barrels could be taken off the market than expected as the U.S. Administration looks determined to choke off as much Iranian oil exports as possible.

Today, a State Department official clarified some of the earlier ‘zero Iranian oil’ statement, saying, as carried by CNBC, that “Our focus is to work with those countries importing Iranian crude oil to get as many of them as possible down to zero by Nov. 4.”

“We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case by case basis. We are serious about our efforts to pressure Iran to change its threatening behavior,” the official said. Related: Tehran: Taking Iran’s Oil Out Of The Market Is ‘Impossible’

Following the Tuesday comments for ‘zero Iranian barrels on the market’, Iran said on Wednesday that the removal of Iranian oil exports from the global market by November is impossible, according an Iranian oil official quoted by the semi-official news agency Tasnim.

Earlier on Thursday, India’s oil ministry was said to have asked local refiners to get ready for a “drastic reduction or zero” imports from Iran.

According to Helima Croft, global head of commodities research at RBC, the Thursday statement from the State Department shows that the U.S. wants to be aggressive in reducing as much Iranian oil exports as possible, and companies have already started to react.

“If you have any U.S. exposure, you’re not going to risk it,” Croft told CNBC.

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