Crude slips in Asia on US energy demand concerns

Oil fell in Asia on Thursday on demand concerns after US data showed a sharper-than-expected rise in crude inventories in the past week, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November shed 10 cents to $92.02 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for December delivery retreated two cents to $113.20.

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A larger-than-expected gain in US crude stockpiles raised demand concerns among traders, said Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia-Pacific oil and gas practice at Ernst & Young.

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Oil jumps to 9-month high after Iran cuts supply

Oil prices jumped to a nine-month high near $ 105 a barrel on Monday in Asia after Iran said it halted crude exports to Britain and France in an escalation of a dispute over the Middle Eastern country's nuclear programme.

Benchmark crude was up $ 1.75 to $ 104.99 per barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Earlier in the day, it rose to $ 105.21, the highest since May. The contract rose 93 cents to settle at $ 103.24 per barrel in New York on Friday.

Read more: IBN Live

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Iran oil halt 'would raise price 30 per cent' - warns IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that global crude prices could rise as much as 30 per cent if Iran halted oil exports as a result of US and European Union sanctions.

If Iran halts exports to countries without offsets from other sources, it would likely trigger an "initial" oil price jump of 20 to 30 per cent, or about $20 to $30 per barrel, the IMF said in its first public comment on a possible Iranian oil supply disruption.

The price impact caused by a cut in Iranian exports could be exacerbated by below average oil stocks in many countries, the result of tight oil market conditions through much of last year, the IMF said.

Read more: Al Jazeera

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India to buy Iran oil without U.S. waiver

[ via Reuters ] 12 Jan

India will keep doing business with Tehran and sees no reason to seek a waiver that would protect buyers of Iranian oil from a fresh round of U.S. sanctions, a senior Indian cabinet minister said on Thursday.

"Why should we seek waiver from the U.S.? We have done business with Iran earlier and will continue to do business," the minister, who has knowledge of the matter but did not want to be named as the matter is confidential, told Reuters.

Read more: Reuters

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EU moves towards Iran crude oil ban

[ via BBC News Middle East ] 5 Jan

EU member states have agreed in principle to ban imports of Iranian crude oil to put pressure on the country over its nuclear programme.

The move is expected to be announced formally at an EU foreign ministers' meeting at the end of January.

Iran has dismissed the threat of new sanctions and denies Western claims that it is trying to develop a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran has also denied that a record low of its currency this week was linked to punitive US measures against its banks.

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Russian drilling rig sinks off Sakhalin leaves 2 dead and 51 missing

[ via Reuters ] 18 Dec

An oil drilling rig with 67 crew on board capsized and sank off the Russian Far East island of Sakhalin when it ran into a storm while being towed, and 51 of the crew were unaccounted for, Russian news agencies reported on Sunday.

Fourteen crew members were rescued alive from the 'Kolskaya' jack-up rig, operated by Russian exploration company Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka, two bodies were recovered and the rest of the crew were missing.

It appeared that the vessel had not been doing drilling work, so no oil spill was likely. The rig's destination was not immediately clear.

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Asian Countries Fearful of Backlash of Sanctions over Iran

[ via Reuters ] 15 Dec

While USA is planning to impose fresh sanctions to isolate Tehran, the Asian governments are having cold feet as they will have no way to pay for Iranian crude imports and face rising costs to fuel the region's growing economies.

At stake is around 1.4 million barrels of oil Iran ships to Asia every day, meeting 10 percent of demand from top buyers China and India. South Korea, Japan and India are scrambling to find ways to keep the oil flowing.

Any restriction on oil supplies from Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, could drive up already high oil prices and threaten economies already facing the impact of the euro zone debt crisis.

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