LONDON: A rise in oil prices caused by the United States’ sanctions policies will hurt economic growth in China, Europe and other consumers, much like President Donald Trump’s trade measures, a top Iranian official said on Thursday.
Iran’s OPEC governor also told Reuters the rise in oil output by OPEC and its allies, after pressure by Trump to do so, was only 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June and would not grow much in 2019, also weighing on economic growth.
While Trump has accused the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries of driving up oil prices, Iran, OPEC’s third-largest producer, says the United States has caused this by imposing sanctions on Iran and fellow OPEC member Venezuela.
“The higher oil prices Trump is causing are leading to a higher energy bill in the EU, Japan, China and India, impacting their economic growth just like the tariffs imposed upon them, also enabling Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pay their arms bill to the US,” Iran’s Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said.
The comments underline the still-simmering tensions after OPEC’s meeting last month, when the group agreed to return to full compliance with earlier agreed oil output cuts, after months of underproduction by OPEC countries including Venezuela.
Saudi Arabia said the deal allowed countries able to produce more, such as itself, to go ahead and do so, to make up for shortfalls elsewhere. Iran strongly disagreed and criticized Saudi plans to boost output.
Kazempour said Trump may be disappointed by the scale of the production increase so far and voiced skepticism Saudi Arabia and Russia could add much more oil in 2019.
“These days Saudi Arabia are supplying out of stocks not additional production,” he said. “Russia is also unable to do much not even 200,000 barrels per day — all are talking few barrels next year and the world economy will shrink and all indexes will be down.”
“The June versus May increase in OPEC and non-OPEC production was only 170,000 bpd. Does this surprise you, Mr.President?“
The International Energy Agency, in a report on Thursday, put the combined month-on-month increase at 230,000 bpd.
If Iran were able to develop its liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry to its full potential, Tehran could help reduce reliance on Russia, Kazempour said — something that the United States would favor.
“Trump is concerned about EU and German dependence on Russian gas. Why do Trump and American companies together with EU companies not invest in Iranian LNG for Europe? Iran holds the largest gas reserves.”
The US president had launched a sharp public attack on Germany on Wednesday for supporting a Baltic Sea gas pipeline deal with Russia, saying Berlin had become “a captive to Russia.”
Iran says US-caused oil spike will slow growth, add to tariff impact
Iran says US-caused oil spike will slow growth, add to tariff impact
- The comments underline the still-simmering tensions after OPEC’s meeting last month
- Saudi Arabia said the deal allowed countries able to produce more, such as itself
GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares skid as oil blasts past $100 after Iran strikes Gulf shipping
SYDNEY: Shares in Asia fell broadly on Thursday as oil prices roared 9 percent past $100 a barrel on reports of more ships struck in Gulf waters and terminal shutdowns — a jump that could rapidly stoke inflation and push global borrowing costs higher.
Investors took little comfort from the International Energy Agency’s plan to release 400 million barrels of oil from its reserves, the largest such move in its history. As part of that, the US said it would release 172 million barrels of oil from next week.
Brent crude futures jumped 9.2 percent to $100.37 a barrel, extending a rise of more than 4 percent overnight. US crude futures surged 8.1 percent to $94.26 a barrel.
Shares slid, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling 1.5 percent, while the Nikkei dropped 1.4 percent.
Chinese blue-chips lost 0.6 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index skidded 1.2 percent.
Both S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures fell 0.9 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures were down 0.8 percent and DAX futures lost 1 percent.
Two fuel tankers in Iraqi waters had been struck by explosive-laden Iranian boats, Iraqi security officials said early on Thursday, while an Iraqi official told state media that its oil ports “have completely stopped operations.”
Bloomberg reported that Oman has evacuated all vessels from its key oil export terminal at Mina Al Fahal as a precautionary measure.
“The market remains very concerned in terms of what’s going on in the Strait of Hormuz, and basically, information that we are getting over the last 24 hours is not a good reading,” said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB.
“It sort of reemphasizes the view that we should be worried about this and the risk is oil prices are going to get higher from here rather than coming down.”
Iran had earlier stepped up attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, raising the number of ships struck in the region since fighting began to at least 16. Tehran has warned the world to get ready for oil at $200 a barrel.
Throwing more uncertainty into the air, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared the war on Iran has been won but he will stay in the fight to finish the job.
INFLATION RISKS
US data showed the consumer price index rose 0.3 percent in February, in line with forecasts and above January’s 0.2 percent increase. The report, however, was not regarded as particularly relevant given that the Iran war has started to fuel inflation.
In bond markets, the risk of rising inflation outweighed safe-haven considerations to shove yields higher globally. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes rose 3 basis points to 4.2374 percent on Thursday, having jumped 7 bps overnight.
Fed funds futures extended their slide as investors feared higher inflation would make it harder for the Federal Reserve to ease policy. Markets are just wagering one more rate cut from the Fed this year.
The danger of energy-driven inflation has led markets to wager the next move in rates from the European Central Bank could be up, possibly as early as June.
Nervous investors sought the liquidity of dollars while shunning currencies from countries that are net energy importers, including Japan and much of Europe.
The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.1539, after closing at the weakest level since November last year. The dollar inched up 0.1 percent to 159.12 yen, the strongest level since January when reported rate checks from the US Fed spooked yen bears.
The risk-sensitive Australian dollar lost 0.4 percent to $0.7122, having hit a more than three-year high of $0.7188 on Wednesday as bets for an imminent rate hike from its central bank grew.
