Oil markets tread water ahead of renewed US sanctions against Iran
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil markets started cautiously on Tuesday, as many traders in Asia were reluctant to take on new positions ahead of the introduction of US sanctions against major crude exporter Iran.
Spot Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $73.74 per barrel at 0100 GMT on Tuesday, down 1 cent from their last close.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 8 cents at $68.93 barrel.
US sanctions against major oil exporter Iran are set to kick in at 12:01 a.m. US Eastcoast time (0401 GMT) on Tuesday.
Traders in Asia said they were holding back on making bets on oil ahead of European and US trading hours, which tend to see much higher liquidity and stronger price movements.
“The US seems hell-bent on regime change in Iran and is reimposing sanctions at midnight Washington time as the 6th becomes the 7th of August,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader.
Many other countries, including US allies in Europe and also China and India oppose the introduction of new sanctions, but the US government said it wants as many countries as possible to stop buying Iranian oil.
“It is our policy to get as many countries to zero as quickly as possible. We are going to work with individual countries on a case by case basis, but our goal is to reduce the amount of revenue and hard currency going into Iran,” said a senior US administration official .
ANZ bank said a 24-hour strike at three North Sea oil and gas platforms operated by Total was also supporting prices.