Oil prices rose on Tuesday with revived U.S. sanctions against major crude exporter Iran expected to tighten global supply.
Brent crude oil futures were up 75 cents to $74.50 per barrel at 1337 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 32 cents at $69.33 a barrel.
A first batch of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which shipped out almost 3 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in July, officially came into effect at 12:01 a.m. U.S. Eastern time (0401 GMT) on Tuesday.
The reimposed sanctions target Iran’s U.S. dollar purchases, metals trading, coal, industrial software and its auto sector.
U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy sector are set to be re-imposed after a 180-day “wind-down period” ending on Nov. 4.
“It is a reality check that this is happening and that Iran’s oil exports will be hurt when the oil sanctions hit it in November,” chief commodities analyst at Commerzbank Bjarne Schieldrop said.
