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Page added on January 29, 2012
Iran says oil may hit $150/bbl on EU ban
Oil prices could rise as high as $150 a barrel because of the European Union ban on imports of Iranian crude, the country’s deputy oil minister was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Sunday.
“Although a precise prediction cannot be made on oil prices, it seems we will witness a $120 to $150 oil price per barrel in future,” said Deputy Oil Ministry Ahmad Qalebani.
Benchmark Brent crude prices rose to around $111.50 a barrel on Friday on expectations Iran’s parliament will vote to halt exports to the European Union as early as next week in retaliation for EU plans to stop all Iranian crude imports by July.
Escalating tensions between Iran and Western allies over Tehran’s nuclear programme, including Iranian threats to close the vital Straits of Hormuz, have helped push up Brent crude prices by about $8 a barrel since mid December.
But analysts say the world is likely to have more oil this summer thanks to additional output from Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Libya that will more than make up for any lost from Iran after the EU’s ban is imposed on July 1 – and this is likely to be reflected in oil prices.
Iran’s parliament is due to debate a bill this week that would cut off oil supplies to the EU in a matter of days, in response to a decision last Monday by the 27 EU member states to stop importing crude from Iran as of July.
The EU banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at hindering Tehran’s nuclear development programme.
Qalebani also warned foreign oil companies to either renew their long term contracts with Tehran or face the consequences of losing their benefits from the OPEC’s second largest producer.
Under buyback contracts, a common feature of the Iranian oil industry, investments in oil field projects are paid back in oil, often over many years.
4 Comments on "Iran says oil may hit $150/bbl on EU ban"
BillT on Sun, 29th Jan 2012 3:21 pm
Funny that on other news sources, they are saying that Europe cannot take a chance on losing Iranian oil. Especially Greece who gets oil on credit from Iran. And, if the oil from Saudi and other countries is not the sweet crude that the refineries can handle, it will still not be useful to Europe.
If the US/Israel thinks that losing the 15% that Europe buys from Iran will hurt Iran, think again. China, Japan, South Korea and India will buy up that 15% in a heartbeat. Do you really think that any of those countries are going to let the dying US Empire destroy their economies? I don’t think so.
beamofthewave on Sun, 29th Jan 2012 5:56 pm
I read that the vote is suppose to happen in Iran today. Good for Iran for refusing to be bullied!
Kenz300 on Sun, 29th Jan 2012 7:35 pm
It is time to end the oil monopoly on transportation fuel. We need to diversify our energy types and sources. Every individual, business and country that uses imported oil needs to develop a plan for greater energy self sufficiency.
BillT on Mon, 30th Jan 2012 2:57 am
Kenz, that is the party line, but what you are proposing is not possible in the world of today. It would mean that most of the Western countries lower their life styles to something just above the 3rd world. That is all renewables can ever support. They all depend on oil at some or many points in their creation and use. When oil is gone, so is what we have come to believe is ‘normal’.