Image: Energy Voice
Oil prices hit a four-year high on Tuesday at $82.55 a barrel amid U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil exports and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reluctance to raise oil output to offset the potential hit to global supply.
Hitting its highest since November 2014, the uptick in oil prices was the market’s response to OPEC’s refusal to increase production levels.
In an interview with Reuters, Head of Crude Oil Marketing at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the country’s OPEC representative, Malam Mele Kyari said: “OPEC will do everything to stabilize, to balance the market but there is a limit to what they can do.”
Speaking in Madrid on Tuesday, OPEC Secretary General, H.E. Mohammad Barkindo said that it was important for OPEC and partners to cooperate to ensure they do not “fall from one crisis to another.”
On Thursday, the price of Brent Crude continued to climb as investors pour into the commodity ahead of the imposition of new U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Brent Crude oil is trading at $81.89, WTI at $72.36 and natural gas at $2.97 per million BTU (at 11:38, 27 September 2018, South Africa).
