Petroleum industry

With Iran ready to resume business as usual with the world under a historic nuclear deal, Tehran will target India, Asia's fastest-growing major oil market, and old partners in Europe with hundreds of thousands of barrels of its crude.

The Brent crude oil price fell below USD 35 a barrel for the first time since 2004 on Wednesday as global oil supply glut and the escalating tensions between major producers Saudi Arabia and Iran have dimmed prospects for cuts in output.

Iran wants to avoid an oil price war with rival producers and only gradually lift exports once sanctions against it are lifted, a senior official said, in what would be a major shift away from planning to ship as much fuel as soon as possible. 

Oil prices fell further on Jan. 5 as the crude supply glut overshadowed a diplomatic row between key producers Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Tensions between the two major oil producers over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric have erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis after Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Iran, sparking global concern.

Oil prices rebounded in Asia on Jan. 5 as a diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran deepened, but a global crude supply glut and economic weakness in China are keeping any increases in check.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said on Dec. 23 the devaluation of the national manat currency this week had been made inevitable by a sharp decline in world oil prices.

European benchmark Brent crude slid to an 11-year low on Dec. 21 as oil prices resumed their slide in an oversupplied global market facing the prospect of renewed US exports.

In the morning, Brent crude for February delivery was down 59 cents at $36.29.

U.S. pricing standard West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery was 36 cents lower at $34.37.

OPEC said Dec. 10 that it expects oil production by countries outside the cartel to fall in 2016 by more than it previously forecast, in a sign that its audacious strategy may be working at last.

Brent crude prices sank under $40 on Dec. 8 for the first time in almost seven years, rocked by OPEC's recent decision to maintain oil output levels despite a chronic supply glut.

European benchmark oil contract Brent North Sea oil for delivery in January tumbled to $39.81 a barrel - the lowest point since February 2009.

 Oil prices are not expected to rise next year, the head of French energy giant Total told reporters in Qatar on Dec. 7.

"We don't anticipate a recovery in 2016," Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on the sidelines of the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Doha.