Investing.com - Oil prices inched down on Friday morning in Asia as the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Russia made efforts to raise crude output, easing market concerns over the impact on supply from U.S. sanctions on Iran sanctions that come into effect next week.
Crude Oil WTI Futures for December delivery dropped 0.52% to $63.36 by 11:06PM ET (03:06 GMT) on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent Oil Futures for January 2019 delivery also slipped 0.48% to $72.54 on London’s Intercontinental Exchange.
The U.S. has now become the world’s top crude producer, beating Russia, with output in August that reached a record 11.346 million barrels per day (bpd), a jump of 2.1 million barrels from August 2017, according to the Energy Information Administration. Russia produced 11.21 million in the same month, according to its energy ministry.
Along with the rising U.S. crude output, Russia and Saudi Arabia also agreed to pump more crude to offset the tighter supply from Iranian sanctions.
“Year-on-year growth in U.S. crude oil production has averaged almost 1.5 million bpd in the first eight months of the year…with output from many key producing regions reaching new all-time highs,” Barclays (LON:BARC) bank told Reuters.
Despite Washington’s goal to cut Iranian exports to zero, the U.S. could grant waivers to India and South Korea to purchasing crude from Iran. If the waivers take effect, India may be able to import about 1.25 million tonnes of oil each month until March from Iran.
“The U.S. is aware of our stand. We have told them that we cannot stop buying Iranian oil. We will continue to buy Iranian oil in this fiscal year,” an Indian government official told Reuters on Thursday.
Japan said on Thursday that it had not yet been granted a waiver from the White House on Iranian sanctions.
The sanctions on Iran take effect Sunday night and could prove to be the biggest disruption to the global oil supply in years, according to Bloomberg. China is the largest buyer of Iranian crude.
China’s Sinopec Group and China National Petroleum Corp do not have any cargoes of crude from Iran booked in November, according to Reuters.