|
 By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. crude for January
delivery was down 3 cents to $95.41 in electronic trading on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $1.59 to close at
$95.44 on Thursday, the highest close this month.
Oil was buoyed by signs of recovery in the U.S. job market but the
gains were short-lived as focus returned to the Iran nuclear talks
that began in Geneva on Wednesday.
Negotiators were trying to fine-tune a draft agreement that would
limit Tehran's atomic program in an initial deal. In exchange, the
U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany are offering a
gradual easing of sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy,
raising the possibility of an influx of Iranian oil into world
markets at a time of already abundant supplies.
A senior U.S. official has told reporters that Iran is losing $5
billion a month in oil sales alone and $120 billion in total from
all sanctions.
The powers insist that the most severe penalties, which are on oil
exports and banks, will remain until there is a comprehensive
agreement to minimize Iran's nuclear arms-making capacity. Iran says
it does not want such weapons and has indicated it's ready to start
rolling back its program but wants greater and faster sanctions
relief than that being offered.
Experts believe countries like China, Korea and India — which have
been given exemptions to U.S.-led sanctions and allowed limited
imports of Iranian crude — may look to increase their purchases from
the Islamic Republic if negotiations fail to reach a deal soon.
[to top of second column] |
Brent crude, the benchmark for an international variety of crude,
was up 71 cents to $110.79 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in
London.
In other energy futures trading on Nymex:
-
Wholesale gasoline rose 0.41 cent to $2.7232 gallon.
-
Heating oil added 2.07 cents to $3.0263 a gallon.
-
Natural gas advanced 4.5 cents to $3.747 per 1,000 cubic
feet.
[Associated
Press; PABLO GORONDI]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
