Oil Plunges After Iran To Join Output Freeze After Doubling Its Production

March 14, 2016 Share Print 0

Oil fell around 3 percent on Monday after Iran dashed hopes of a coordinated production freeze any time soon, returning bearish sentiment over a supply glut that has sent prices crashing.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 fell back below $40 a barrel, trading at $39.27 at 1308 GMT, down $1.12 on Friday’s close. Brent hit a 12-year low of $27.10 in January.

U.S. crude CLc1 was down $1.09 at $37.41 a barrel.

“Oil is down because Iran said they would only join the output freeze group once they reached production of 4 million barrels a day,” said Tamas Varga, oil analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates.

He was referring to comments by Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh on Sunday that the OPEC member would join discussions after its output reached that level.

Iran’s oil exports are due to reach 2 million bpd in the Iranian month that ends on March 19, up from 1.75 million in the previous month, he said.

Zanganeh met Russian counterpart Alexander Novak in Tehran on Monday but talks focused on long-running discussions about an oil and gas swap mechanism.

via Reuters

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.

Bio
Twitter
Google+
Latest Posts

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse

Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.