Oil Prices Sink Below $68 as U.S. Treasury Considers Waivers on Iran Sanctions

Oil prices fell more than 3% to below $68 on Monday as the U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested that certain exceptions could be made for countries importing oil from Iran.

New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures tumbled $2.33 or 3.3% to $67.62 a barrel by 10:32 AM ET (14:33 GMT).

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., sank $2.56 or 3.4%, to $72.77.

“We want people to reduce oil purchases to zero, but in certain cases if people can't do that overnight, we'll consider exceptions," Mnuchin told reporters on Friday in comments embargoed until Monday, according to Reuters.

After U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions, countries buying oil from Tehran were threatened with secondary sanctions from the U.S., cutting down on Iran’s contribution to global supply.

However, Trump has complained on several occasions about prices being too high and said he had requested Saudi Arabia to increase output.

Mnuchin suggested that he would meet with counterparts on the sidelines of a G20 finance ministers' meeting in Buenos Aires on July 19-22 where sanctions on Iran were likely to be a topic of conversation.

“The State Department has the ability to issue waivers around significant reductions in the oil markets, that's something that Treasury and State will be doing,” Mnuchin said, adding that the U.S. would be “open to listening”.

In other energy trading, gasoline futures fell 3.04% $2.0327 a gallon by 10:37 AM ET (14:37 GMT), while heating oil lost 2.82% to $2.0733 a gallon.

Lastly, natural gas futures gained 0.47% to $2.765 per million British thermal units.

source -investing .com