- WTI crude settled above $70/Bbl for the first time since October 2018 on Tuesday
- Oil prices received a lift from still ongoing Iranian nuclear talks and a bullish API crude oil inventory report late yesterday
- Iran said a deal to end sanctions on its oil sector remained elusive (Bloomberg)
- The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a draw oil stocks of 2.108 MMBbl for the week ended June 4
- The WTI-Brent spread gained 10c yesterday to settle at -$2.35/Bbl on Tuesday, the narrowest close since late November 2020
- “This is because the WTI Cushing complex is supported by a host of bullish localized fundamentals,” PVM analyst Stephen Brennock said in a report (Bloomberg)
- Brennock expects the relatively tight differential to be a prominent theme over the coming months
- Iran intends a quick increase in oil output once sanctions are lifted, a senior oil ministry official said on Wednesday (Reuters)
- A member of Iran’s national oil company (NIOC) said oil production will be restored within a month if sanctions are lifted
- “Careful planning has been done to restore oil output to pre-sanctions levels in intervals of one week, one month, and three months,” said Farokh Alikhani, production manager of the NIOC