Lower Iranian Crude Shipments Push Prices Sharply Higher

Just before 10:00 a.m. this morning, Reuters published a story reporting that Iranian crude oil exports have fallen by 300,000 barrels/day in March. That’s a drop of 14% in Iran’s exports and the story attributes the drop to growing compliance to US-led sanctions against the Islamic Republic due to Iran’s nuclear development program. Not surprisingly, the price of Brent crude spiked to near $127/barrel.

Petroleum research firm Petrologistics believes that Iranian exports will fall from 2.2 million barrels/day in February to 1.9 million barrels/day in March primarily due to reduced sales to Europe.

Coupled with an earlier report of supply outages totalling 1.2 million barrels/day, crude prices are up sharply today. Brent crude is currently up about 1.9% at $125.44/barrel and WTI crude is up 1.6% at $107.08/barrel.