Iran can boost oil production in one week after international sanctions are lifted, and OPEC’s refusal to accommodate Iran in export markets would result in lower crude prices, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said.
China's state oil giants are set to start pumping a combined 160,000 barrels a day at two projects in southwestern Iran from around October, company sources said, contributing to Tehran's plan to boost output ahead of sanctions being lifted. Chinese energy firms had earlier put on hold or slowed work on energy projects in Iran from late 2010, worried about penalties that might be imposed by Washington as it led world powers to press Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions. Iran and six world powers, including China and the United States, clinched a landmark deal on July 14 that limits the Islamic nation's nuclear activities in return for lifting sanctions that have more than halved its oil exports since 2012.
Russia and OPEC are pursuing the same goals of keeping the oil market balanced and stable, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri on Thursday. OPEC decided in June to keep oil production unchanged in a bid to defend its market share. Russia has also refused to take any action to support oil prices which have more than halved since last year. "The global oil market is being affected by various political factors. In particular, ... the agreement on Iran ... and its consequences ... will have an impact on the market," Novak said during a visit to Moscow by Badri.
Iran’s quest to rejuvenate its energy industry after decades of sanctions is attracting renewable energy developers eager to plant turbines on windy ridges across the country. Since 2012 the government has pushed renewables as an alternative to the fossil fuels that supply 94 percent of its electricity. Developers such as GI Umweltconsult and turbine suppliers including Nordex SE are preparing to enter the market. While Iran’s renewables industry is concentrated mainly on hydro plants, the government plans to bolster wind as a way of preserving crude oil for export, and feeding the electricity needs of its more than 80 million people. With an ambition to install 5 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2020, Iran would rank alongside France and the UK as an industry leader.
US secretary of state John Kerry has warned sceptical politicians not to sabotage the contentious nuclear deal with Iran, insisting that it included strict inspections and other safeguards to deter cheating by Tehran.
“High-level” talks will soon be launched with the European Union (EU) following a nuclear agreement reached with world powers earlier this month, according to Iran’s foreign minister.
In the 36 years since the Islamic revolution swept over Iran, the country has tapped international debt markets exactly twice.
Iran outlined plans on Thursday for the rebuilding of its core industries and trade links in the wake of a nuclear agreement with world powers, saying it was targeting oil and gas projects worth $185 billion by 2020. Iran's Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said the Islamic Republic would focus on its oil and gas, metals and car industries with an eye to exporting to Europe after sanctions have been lifted. "We are looking for a two-way trade as well as cooperation in development, design and engineering," Nematzadeh told a conference in Vienna.
Crude oil in New York climbed from a three-month low in New York as the dollar slipped for the first time in five days.
Iran’s parliament is set to review the landmark nuclear deal reached with world powers last week. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who headed the Iranian negotiating team during the talks in Vienna, sent the text of the agreement to the house, state media reported. Under Iran’s constitution, parliament has a right to reject any deal - even one negotiated by the foreign ministry. However, it is not clear whether politicians will vote on the deal or whether they will simply discuss it and possibly express concerns about it.
Oil dropped to a three-month low in New York on the prospect that increasing Iranian shipments will extend the global supply glut. West Texas Intermediate crude extended losses in the wake of a third weekly retreat. Iran will focus on regaining oil sales it lost due to sanctions regardless of the impact on prices, Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in Tehran. The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted an Iran deal resolution Monday.
Global oil markets won’t feel the real impact of Iran’s historic deal with world powers until 2016 as sanctions remain in place while nuclear inspectors go to work, said banks including Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Commerzbank AG. OPEC’s fourth-largest member won’t achieve a crude-export boost of more than 500,000 barrels a day, or about 50 percent, until next year as Iran’s compliance with curbs on its nuclear program is verified, the banks say. The nation will probably choose to gradually increase exports once sanctions are lifted, rather than risk lower prices by rapidly pushing crude into an oversupplied market, according to the International Energy Agency.
Disputes over attempts to probe Tehran’s alleged work on nuclear weapons are unexpectedly persisting, threatening plans to wrap up an Iran nuclear deal. Diplomats say at least two other issues still need final agreement. These are Iranian demands that a UN arms embargo be lifted and any UN Security Council resolution approving the deal no longer describes Iran’s nuclear activities as illegal. With few signs that Iranian or US negotiators are prepared to give ground, the high-stakes game of brinksmanship looks set to force a fourth extension of talks since the current round began 17 days ago.
Oil erased its advance as the International Energy Agency forecast prices will need to fall further to curb excess supplies, countering gains after nuclear talks stalled between Iran and world powers.
Oil rose for a second day on signs Iran and world powers will miss another deadline for a nuclear deal that could end sanctions on the OPEC producer. Futures gained as much as 1.1 percent in New York, after climbing the most Thursday in more than two weeks. Senior officials involved in the negotiations said it was too late to reach an agreement by Friday morning in Vienna, the last chance to qualify for a 30-day review in the U.S. Congress. A measure of crude trading volatility was near the highest level in 12 weeks. Oil’s advance is paring a second weekly loss driven by China’s equities rout and the turmoil in Greece. Iran, the fourth-largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, plans to boost crude exports and recapture market share if international sanctions are lifted.
Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme are lurching towards another deadline with diplomats reconvening amid uncertainty and vague pronouncements from participants. As the talks entered a 13th day in Vienna, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said his nation is preparing for a “post-sanctions” era, suggesting that a deal may be in sight to curb the country’s nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of economic sanctions. His foreign minister, meanwhile, said on Twitter that “with mutual respect, anything possible”. “We’re always making progress. We’re going to resolve the last issues - if we can,” US energy secretary Earnest Moniz told reporters while meeting his Iranian counterpart Ali Akhbar Salehi, who responded more optimistically. “Hopefully, today is the last day,” Mr Salehi said.
An agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program could create a bonanza for US defense contractors who already are benefiting as the Obama administration tries to assuage Israeli and Gulf Arab concerns by cutting deals for more than $6billion in military hardware. The details of a potential deal being negotiated between Iran and six world powers -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and US -- would determine what steps the U.S. takes to help its allies. A nuclear agreement is likely to prompt Mideast partners to seek improved defense systems from American contractors such as Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. as well as weapons-makers in France and elsewhere. “In theory, an Iran deal could lead to a reduction in tensions in the region that would reduce the demand for advanced weaponry,” said William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington. “In the short-term, a deal could actually boost the demand for arms.”
Diplomats missed another deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran and may prolong talks until the end of the week or beyond, as they spar over an arms embargo and what would happen if the accord is breached. World powers extended until July 10 the interim arrangement that freezes Iran’s most sensitive nuclear work in exchange for limited relief from sanctions. While the negotiators in Vienna are playing down talk of deadlines, the timetable for review by the U.S. Congress means that any further easing of the curbs will be delayed by at least a month if a final agreement isn’t reached by Friday morning. “We’re frankly more concerned about the quality of the deal than we are about the clock, though we also know that difficult decisions won’t get any easier with time,” U.S. State Department senior adviser Marie Harf said. All sides say they’re closer than ever to a deal after 11 straight days of high-level talks in the Austrian capital. For energy-rich Iran, an agreement would speed its return to world oil markets and the international financial system. The world powers say any deal must restrict the Islamic Republic’s ability to pursue nuclear weapons.
As intense negotiations continue in Vienna with the world's superpowers (Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US) Iran has still to conclude a deal that ensures absolute transparency on its nuclear plant activities that should prevent it acquiring nuclear weapons.
World powers and Iran are on the verge of missing another deadline in Vienna, where diplomats are in a 10th straight day of talks seeking an accord over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif held talks until early Tuesday in the Austrian capital, along with their counterparts from China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K. After their meeting broke up, lower-level officials and technicians continued negotiations into the night. Iran’s interlocutors say that while differences have continued to narrow, agreement isn’t assured by the time their latest deadline expires at midnight on Tuesday. “We’re not there yet,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said in Washington. After almost two years, diplomats say they’re closer than ever to sealing an accord that would return energy-rich Iran to world markets while giving regional rivals guarantees that the Islamic Republic can’t produce nuclear weapons. Iran says its program has always been peaceful, a claim the West disputes.
In Iran’s push for a nuclear deal, it’s had few better allies than Moscow. But if an agreement is reached this week, President Vladimir Putin’s regime will have at least one reason to reflect on its support. Russia, which vies with Saudi Arabia and the U.S. to be the world’s largest oil producer, has the most to lose when Iran returns to the global energy market, according to a dozen analysts and executives at oil companies, banks and trading houses interviewed by Bloomberg.
US Secretary of State John Kerry tempered expectations that a nuclear deal with Iran is imminent as foreign ministers from world powers rejoined a record ninth straight day of negotiations. While progress continues to be made at the talks, “we are not yet where we need to be on several of the most difficult issues,” Kerry told reporters on Sunday at Vienna’s Palais Coburg, where he’d been meeting for much of the day with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. An agreement will allow energy-rich Iran back into global oil and natural-gas markets as sanctions are lifted. The US, whose allies in the region are wary of Iran’s influence, says it will only sign a deal that restricts the Islamic Republic’s ability to make nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is entirely peaceful.
A nuclear deal with Iran looks imminent after a logjam over monitoring was broken and with foreign ministers set to rejoin U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a record ninth-straight day of talks later on Sunday. Kerry began morning meetings at Vienna’s Palais Coburg with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a U.S. administration official said. The impending agreement could be announced as early as Monday, according to two Western officials who asked not to be named in line with rules. “The extension of negotiations is not a desired alternative for any of the parties,” Zarif’s deputy, Abbas Araghchi, said Saturday on state television. “All parties involved are determined to come to a conclusive end.”
The head of the United Nations atomic agency will travel to Iran Thursday to meet the nation’s president and top security official, Iranian media reported, as talks with world powers tackle remaining hurdles to a nuclear deal. Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, state-run IRNA news agency reported, citing diplomats it didn’t name. He’ll also hold talks with the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, a key official with military oversight.
As Iran nears a deal to ease oil sanctions after almost two years of talks, selling more crude remains a long way off. The nation’s goal of increasing exports 50 percent as soon as restrictions are lifted won’t be fulfilled, say Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Societe Generale SA. That would require an extra 500,000 barrels of daily output, which the banks say will take six to 12 months as OPEC’s fourth- biggest producer complies with terms of a deal and revives aging wells. The impact on prices will be limited, the banks predict. “They’ve got to meet the requirements of any agreement, and that’s going to take time,” Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said by e-mail from New York on Monday. “When you shut these fields in to that significant of a degree, your ability to bring back production to previous levels will be limited because you’ve done damage to the fields that will require significant investment.”