Benchmark oil prices rise over 2pc

Benchmark oil prices jumped over 2 per cent yesterday and US crude topped $70 for the first time in two months, as Washington pushed allies to halt imports of Iranian crude. Brent crude gained $1.30 to trade at $76.03 a barrel by 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT). US light crude rose $2.08 to $70.16. The United States is pushing countries to halt imports of Iranian oil from November, a senior State Department official said, and it will not grant any waivers to sanctions. “We’re going to isolate streams of Iranian funding and looking to highlight the totality of Iran’s malign behaviour across the region,” the official told reporters. Iran’s seaborne crude exports fell to about 1.93 million bpd in June from 2.38 mln bpd in May and 2.58 mln bpd in April, based on Thomson Reuters data “That would create an additional supply shortage, which is exacerbating the reduction of supply in Libya as well as the problems that we’re seeing with Syncrude Canada,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. Syncrude Canada’s 360,000 barrel per day oil sands facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta will remain offline through July due to a power outage, a spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday. Traders expect the outage to tighten Canadian supplies and reduce crude flows.