Oil Prices Fall Despite Pompeo’s Remarks That Wavers on Iran Sanctions Temporary

Investing.com – Oil prices fell on Friday and were headed for their worst weekly decline since February despite assurances that exemptions from Iranian sanctions on crude would be temporary.

New York-traded fell 43 cents, or 0.68%, at $63.26 a barrel by 11:43 AM ET (15:43 GMT).

Meanwhile, , the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., slipped 1 cent, or 0.01%, to $72.88.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed at a press conference on Friday that the U.S. would grant exemptions to sanctions on Iranian crude.

But he clarified that exemptions to sanctions on Iranian crude exports would be temporary, lasting only “weeks” to give jurisdictions time to wind down their imports.

Pompeo promised to give additional details on Monday.

Oil is on track for a weekly decline of 6%, following through on October’s sharp decline as worries of oversupply continue to pummel prices.

Saudi Arabia pledged earlier in the month to raise oil output to offset the fall from Iranian exports expected to be caused by the U.S. sanctions that go into effect on Nov. 4, while Russia also said on Saturday that there is no reason for the country to cut its production levels.

In that light, investors will pay close attention to the from Baker Hughes at 1:00 PM ET (17:00 GMT). Last Friday’s data, an early indicator of future U.S. output, rose by two to 875, the highest since March 2015.

The U.S. has already become the world’s top crude producer, beating Russia, with output in August that reached a record 11.346 million barrels per day (bpd), a jump of 2.1 million barrels from August 2017, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In other energy trading, dropped 0.22% to $1.7127 a gallon by 11:44 AM ET (15:44 GMT), while fell 0.93% to $2.1804 a gallon.

Lastly, traded down 0.90% to $3.208 per million British thermal units.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.