Oil drops to around $83

Oil dropped to around $83 a barrel yesterday, pressured by expectations that some Iranian oil exports will keep flowing after the US re-imposes sanctions, easing a strain on supplies. Two companies in India, a big buyer of Iranian oil, have ordered barrels in November, India’s oil minister said on Monday. The Trump administration is considering waivers on sanctions, a US government official said on Friday.

“One way or another, it looks as though India is going to take some Iranian crude,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix, adding that the development was helping oil to “retrace some of the price surge we saw last week.” Brent crude, the international benchmark LCOc1, was down 94 cents to $83.22 per barrel at 1325 GMT. It hit a four-year high of $86.74 last week. US crude CLc1 was down 81 cents at $73.53. US sanctions will target Iran’s crude oil exports from Nov. 4, and Washington has been putting pressure on governments and companies worldwide to cut their imports to zero. Saudi Arabia said last week it plans to raise production in November from October output of 10.7 million barrels per day (bpd).