Investing.com – Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday amid reports that Iran’s exports fell after U.S. re-imposed economic and crude sanctions against the the world’s fifth biggest oil exporter, while U.S. crude inventories also declined, data showed.
Brent Oil Futures for October delivery was trading at $74.58 a barrel at 10:57PM ET (02:57 GMT), down 0.09%, while Crude Oil WTI Futures for September delivery went up 0.07% to $69.22 per barrel.
Iran’s oil exports dropped for the third consecutive month by 7% to 2.32 million barrel per day in July, the lowest level in four months, data from S&P Global Platts showed.
Exports to China rose, on the other hand, to nearly 800,000 barrels per day in July and that to India also rose by 400,000 barrels per day from June to July.
The data came after Washington announced sanctions against Iran on Tuesday. Crude sanctions will take effect in November this year, while other economic sanctions became effective on Tuesday.
“The Iran sanctions have officially been cast. These are the most biting sanctions ever imposted, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will not be doing business with the United States,” said U.S. President Donald Trump.
William Jackson, chief emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said “While there is still some uncertainty about what will happen to Iranian oil, we think there probably won’t be a significant impact on prices.”
Separately, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories decreased by 6 million barrels in the week to Aug 3 to 407.2 million.