SINGAPORE: Oil prices climbed more than 1 percent on Wednesday, extending the prior day’s gains, as investors weighed a fresh round of US sanctions on Iran, a drop in US crude stocks and a softer tone from President Donald Trump toward the Federal Reserve.
Brent crude futures climbed $1, or 1.5 percent, to $68.44 a barrel at 9:40 a.m. Saudi time, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 99 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $64.66 a barrel.
The US issued new sanctions targeting Iranian liquefied petroleum gas and crude oil shipping magnate Seyed Asadoollah Emamjomeh and his corporate network on Tuesday.
Emamjomeh’s network is responsible for shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian LPG and crude oil to foreign markets, the US Treasury said in a statement.
“The US issued fresh sanctions targeting Iranian energy supplies, which worried markets,” said senior market analyst Priyanka Sachdeva at Phillip Nova.
Both benchmark prices this morning were also backed by hopes of a positive outcome between the US and China over import tariffs, Sachdeva said.
Trump on Tuesday backed away from the threat of firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell after days of criticism for the Fed not cutting interest rates. Trump also signalled the possibility of lower tariffs on Chinese imports.
Meanwhile, US crude oil inventories fell by around 4.6 million barrels last week, market sources said on Tuesday citing American Petroleum Institute data.
US government data on oil stockpiles is due at 5:30 p.m. Saudi time on Wednesday. Analysts on average estimated an 800,000 barrel decline in US crude oil stocks last week, a Reuters poll showed.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday he would be “nice” in negotiations with China and that tariffs would fall significantly following a deal, but not to zero.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he believed there would be a de-escalation in US-China trade tension but that negotiations had not yet started and would be a “slog,” a person who heard his closed-door presentation to investors at a JP Morgan conference told Reuters.
Trade tariffs have weighed on crude futures on investor concern about their potential to slow global economic growth.
