Fuel Fix/Bloomberg: More Iran oil may flow within months of deal, officials say
World powers have offered to suspend U.S. and European oil sanctions against Iran within months of signing an agreement if the Islamic Republic adopts strict limits verified by intrusive inspections of its nuclear program for at least a decade, according to U.S. and European officials.
Limits on Iran’s oil exports would be suspended after Iran complies with an initial set of restrictions, such as disconnecting the majority of its centrifuges and submitting them for verification, according to the officials who spoke to Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity to describe the private negotiations under way in Lausanne, Switzerland.
WNU Editor: For Iran .... the prospect of billions in additional revenues for their coffers must be tempting .... they will be able to support popular domestic programs as well as continuing to fund their allies in Yemen, Syria, and to pay off their supporters and militias in Iraq. On the downside .... there is already a global oil glut .... millions of more barrels of oil will only depress prices further impacting everyone .... Iran included. For countries that are dependent on oil revenues ....Venezuela comes to mind .... even more hard times are coming. For countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia .... this is a development that they must view as troubling.
1 comment:
Generally speaking instability in major oil producing regions increases the price of oil. Perhaps Russia, Saudi Arabia or someone else will undermine the deal because they need more instability to drive up the price of oil. Russia comes to mind here.
The USA as the biggest importer of oil stands to be the biggest winner, at least in the short term, with lower prices. Essentially lower prices is bad news for the oil producers and those who have their lively hoods in the oil and gas industry but good news for everyone else. Every one else is the huge majority in the US and elsewhere in the world. While oil and gas jobs are not the majority, they do pay well and it remains to be seen how areas who depend heavily on this in the US will fare.
With that said, lower oil prices should be a huge short term benefit to the US!! I'm skeptical that Russia or other major oil producers are going to allow America to have a "victory" like that even if it is only short term.
When Iran gets nuclear bombs, this may change everything. At this point, it's not if but when. Even if America put every single resource it had into trying to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons it could not do so. Hopefully military leaders and other key business/civilian leaders are working on preparing for this.
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