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Iran nuclear deal pushes oil prices lower

.A picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency shows supporters of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (portrait) flashing the sign for victory as the foreign minister arrived at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport after talks in Geneva in which world powers reached an agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme on November 24, 2013. Analysts praised a ground-breaking interim deal with Iran to rein in its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief, but warned negotiations for a full agreement will prove even tougher. AFP PHOTO/ISNA/ARASH KHAMOOSHIARASH KHAMOOSHI/AFP/Getty Images Oil prices tumbled on Monday after Iran agreed a historic agreement with world powers to halt its uranium enrichment programme, lifting hopes for a relaxation of geopolitical risk and a boost in oil supplies. Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama and David Cameron, UK prime minister, sought to reassure Israel that the accord would not threaten […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Oil Slump Seen as ‘Knee-Jerk’ Reaction to Iran Nuclear Deal

Iran’s pledge to restrict nuclear work in return for loosened economic sanctions may have a limited effect on crude prices, said analysts who called today’s 2.5 percent slump in Brent a “knee-jerk” reaction. Oil exports from the Islamic republic will be held to about 1 million barrels a day under sanctions that remain in force after Iran and six world powers reached an agreement yesterday in Geneva, according to the White House. The sanctions cut Iranian crude sales by 60 percent since the start of 2012, depriving the country of more than $80 billion in revenue, U.S. President Barack Obama ’s administration said in a statement. London’s Brent crude prices slumped today in the first day of trading since the deal while West Texas Intermediate fell 1.3 percent in New York . “There will be a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction,” Jonathan Barratt , the chief executive officer […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Iran sanctions deal to unleash oil supply but Saudi wild card looms

Khaled al Otaiby, an official of the Saudi oil company Aramco watches progress at a rig at the al-Howta oil field near Howta, Saudi Arabia The bank said falling energy prices could mark the death of the commodity supercycle, already struggling as China shifts to a new phase of “smart urbanisation”. Alastair Newton from Nomura said the “geopolitical risk” premium in the oil price should fall but there will be no immediate softening of the oil embargo, adding that talks could still break down over Iran’s heavy water reactor at Arak. America’s rapprochement with Tehran is a dramatic upset in the region’s alliance system at a time when Shia Muslims led by Iran are locked in an epic struggle for Mid-East dominance with a Saudi-led bloc of Sunni regimes. Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review, said the great unknown is how Saudi Arabia will react to a move deemed […]

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Iran will start implementing nuclear agreement in weeks: Zarif

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday his country would begin implementing a nuclear agreement struck with world powers in the next few weeks, as hundreds of supporters welcomed him and his negotiating team home. Crowds gathered at Mehrabad airport on Sunday evening local time, hailing Zarif as a hero and holding flags and flowers. "No war, no sanctions, no insults and no submission," they chanted. Some held aloft posters of President Hassan Rouhani, the architect of Iran’s initiative in striking a nuclear deal. "In the coming weeks – by the end of the Christian year – we will begin the programme for the first phase," Zarif said in a live interview at the airport. "At the same time, we are prepared to begin negotiations for a final resolution as of tomorrow." Earlier on Sunday, the team was acclaimed by Iran’s most powerful man, […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Special Report: 'Great Satan' meets 'Axis of Evil' and strikes a deal

GENEVA (Reuters) – Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. A black tie charity ball was finishing up and singers with an after party band at a bar above the lobby were crooning out the words to a Johnny Cash song – "I fell into a burning ring of fire" – while weary diplomats in nearby conference rooms were trying to polish off the last touches of an accord. Negotiators emerged complaining that the hotel lobby smelled like beer. At around 2:00 a.m., U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were brought to a conference room to approve a final text of the agreement which would provide limited relief of sanctions on Iran […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Special Report: ‘Great Satan’ meets ‘Axis of Evil’ and strikes a deal

GENEVA (Reuters) – Saturday night had turned into Sunday morning and four days of talks over Iran’s nuclear program had already gone so far over schedule that the Geneva Intercontinental Hotel had been given over to another event. A black tie charity ball was finishing up and singers with an after party band at a bar above the lobby were crooning out the words to a Johnny Cash song – "I fell into a burning ring of fire" – while weary diplomats in nearby conference rooms were trying to polish off the last touches of an accord. Negotiators emerged complaining that the hotel lobby smelled like beer. At around 2:00 a.m., U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and counterparts from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia were brought to a conference room to approve a final text of the agreement which would provide limited relief of sanctions on Iran […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Asia Refiners Weigh Impact of Iran Oil Insurance Deal on Imports

Refiners in South Korea and Japan said they have no immediate plans to boost crude purchases from Iran while Indian processors intend to maintain contracted volumes after the EU lifted a ban on insuring tankers. It’s still too early to say whether SK Innovation Co. (096770) , South Korea’s largest refiner, will increase purchases, Lee Mi Ji, a spokeswoman in Seoul , said by phone. Japan’s Showa Shell Sekiyu K.K. doesn’t plan to change its supply deals for the time being, according to the company. Indian Oil Corp., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. and Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd. said that while the removal of restrictions will enable them to import contracted volumes more easily, they don’t intend to buy more than previously planned. “Insurance was an issue, but the key point is that there is no lifting of current restrictions on Iranian crude, they just remain the same,” said Neil […]

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Iran Pact Faces Stiff Opposition

LONDON—A groundbreaking deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program faces towering obstacles at home and abroad to becoming a permanent agreement, starting with the U.S. Congress and two of America’s closest allies. The leaders of both the Democratic and Republican parties are threatening to break with President Barack Obama ‘s policy and enact new punitive sanctions on Iran, arguing that the interim deal reached in Geneva on Sunday yields too much to the Islamist regime while asking too little. “The disproportionality of this agreement makes it more likely that Democrats and Republicans will join together and pass additional sanctions when we return in December,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), an influential member of the Senate Democratic leadership. Such a move could kill the nascent nuclear accord, U.S. and Iranian officials agree, and add to more recent political embarrassments for the White House. Reaching a comprehensive deal with Iran also […]

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Science of Nuclear Capacity Fuels Doubt on Deal's Impact

GENEVA—The big question over the agreement forged Sunday in this Swiss lakeside city between Iran and the world’s big powers is this: How much will it delay, if at all, Tehran’s ability to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon? Israel argues that as long as Iran can enrich uranium at even a low level, it can elude detection of any clandestine effort toward making higher-level, weapons-grade fuel, and can quickly restore the capacity that it agreed to reduce. The international community has sought ways to ensure that any Iranian move toward a weapon is slowed, and can be caught, though Iran says its activities are for civilian purposes. Even with Sunday’s accord, most analysts believe it would still take only weeks or months to produce enough highly enriched fissile material to fuel a bomb if Iran chose to go all out. Uranium ore in nature is only 0.7% […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Science of Nuclear Capacity Fuels Doubt on Deal’s Impact

GENEVA—The big question over the agreement forged Sunday in this Swiss lakeside city between Iran and the world’s big powers is this: How much will it delay, if at all, Tehran’s ability to produce enough material for a nuclear weapon? Israel argues that as long as Iran can enrich uranium at even a low level, it can elude detection of any clandestine effort toward making higher-level, weapons-grade fuel, and can quickly restore the capacity that it agreed to reduce. The international community has sought ways to ensure that any Iranian move toward a weapon is slowed, and can be caught, though Iran says its activities are for civilian purposes. Even with Sunday’s accord, most analysts believe it would still take only weeks or months to produce enough highly enriched fissile material to fuel a bomb if Iran chose to go all out. Uranium ore in nature is only 0.7% […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple