By Dipo Olowookere
The price of the Brent crude oil recorded a 0.60 percent rise on Thursday afternoon to trade at $77.60 per barrel at the market.
Business Post reports that the increase in the price of the commodity comes on growing evidence of disruptions to crude supply from Iran and Venezuela and after a fall in US crude inventories.
A check on the US light crude oil showed a 0.56 percent growth, trading at $69.90 per barrel as at Thursday afternoon.
Iranian crude exports are likely to drop to a little more than 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, against a peak of 3.1 million bpd in April, as importers bow to American pressure to cut orders.
Reuters quoted an analyst at Swiss bank UBS in Zurich, Giovanni Staunovo, as saying that, “The oil market is once again tightening.”
“Iranian oil export declines are already visible well in advance of U.S. oil-related sanctions, which enter into force in November,” Staunovo adds.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in which Iran is the third-biggest producer, will discuss in December whether it can compensate for a sudden drop in Iranian supply after sanctions start in November, the head of Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO, Alaa al-Yasiri, said on Wednesday.
Adedapo Adesanya