Oil hits 2019 highs on US aims to remove Iran oil sanctions waivers
Oil prices rose to 2019 highs early on Tuesday, the day after the US said that investors of Iranian oil should stop buying the commodity by May 1 or face sanctions.
Brent crude futures (BZ=F) were at $74.53 (£57.34) per barrel, up 0.66% from the last session, continuing a consistent rise year-to-date.
On Monday, the White House announced that waivers for China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey would expire in May, in a bid drive down Iran’s oil exports to zero. This would, in turn, deny the government its main source of revenue.
While it looks like a move from Donald Trump’s administration is likely to continue driving up oil prices this year, investment bank Goldman Sachs says that it will actually have a limited impact on prices and that it still expects declining prices into 2020 due to better supplied markets next year.
“While we acknowledge the near-term upside price risks, we reiterate our fundamentally derived Brent price trading range of $70-75 per barrel for the second quarter of 2019,” said the bank in a client note yesterday.
