Trump Sanctions Threat Sends Oil Prices Soaring
Oil prices surged on Friday after US President Donald Trump threatened economic sanctions on Iran's trading partners, raising expectations of tighter supply in the coming weeks.
The Brent benchmark rose to USD 94.39 a barrel, up 61 cents or 0.65%, while US West Texas Intermediate crude settled at USD 87.06 a barrel, up 23 cents or 0.26%.
Experts say the immediate impact on supply may be limited as Iranian exports are already heavily constrained by the US naval blockade, but an increase in shipping incidents and retaliation against economic sanctions could exacerbate the situation.
Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group, noted that while Hormuz remains a problem, it's no longer the only story, with pipelines, shuttles, US shale, a recovering Venezuela, and an unconstrained UAE all adding barrels to the market.