SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices edged higher on Monday as a potential snag emerged in reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that could add more oil supply.
Brent crude oil futures for July rose 50 cents to $66.94 a barrel by 0631 GMT, while U.S. West Texas intermediate (WTI) for July was at $64.04 per barrel, up 72 cents.
“Iran’s oil production has been rising in recent months, likely in anticipation of a lifting of the sanctions,” ANZ analysts said in a note on Monday, according to Reuters.
However, the speaker of Iran’s parliament said on Sunday that a three-month monitoring deal between Tehran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog had expired and that its access to images from inside some Iranian nuclear sites would cease.
European diplomats said last week that failure to agree an extension of the monitoring deal would plunge wider, indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran on reviving the nuclear deal into crisis.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions.
Even with a potential restart of Iran exports, the case for higher oil prices remains intact due to a vaccine-driven increase in global demand, Reuters cited Goldman Sachs analysts as saying.
“Even aggressively assuming a restart in July, we estimate that Brent prices would still reach $80 per barrel in fourth quarter, 2021, with our new base case for an October restart still supporting our $80 per barrel forecast for this summer,” Goldman Sachs was quoted as saying.
