SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices soared to their highest since 2008 due to delays in the potential return of Iranian crude to global markets.
Brent jumped $11.67 to $129.78 a barrel by 0604 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $10.83 to $126.51 per barrel.
In the first few minutes of trade on Sunday, both benchmarks rose to their highest since July 2008 with Brent at $139.13 a barrel and WTI at $130.50, according to Reuters.
Both contracts hit their highest in July 2008 with Brent at $147.50 a barrel and WTI at $147.27.
“Iran was the only real bearish factor hanging over the market but if now the Iranian deal gets delayed, we could get to tank bottoms a lot quicker especially if Russian barrels remain off the market for long,” Reuters quoted Amrita Sen, co-founder of Energy Aspects, a think tank, as saying.
Talks to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers were mired in uncertainty on Sunday following Russia’s demands for a U.S. guarantee that the sanctions it faces over the Ukraine conflict will not hurt its trade with Tehran.
China has also raised new demands, according to sources.
In response to Russia’s demands, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that the sanctions imposed on Russia over its Ukraine invasion have nothing to do with a potential nuclear deal with Iran, Reuters reported.
The United States and European allies, meanwhile, are exploring banning imports of Russian oil, Blinken said on Sunday, and the White House coordinated with key Congressional committees moving forward with their own ban.
“The idea was not to sanction oil and gas because of their essential nature, but oil is getting sanctioned by private actors not wanting to pick it up or ports not wanting to receive it and the longer this goes on the more supply chains are going to buckle,” Reuters quoted Daniel Yergin, author and vice chairman of S&P Global ahead of the CERAWeek conference in Houston, as saying.
