Brent Brent companies on the decline in US oil stocks, threat of Iran

CALGARY / LONDON (Reuters) – Brent's oil rose on Wednesday, pushed higher by the threat of an Iranian commander and by a drop in US crude oil inventories for the second week in a row.

Price climbed over 78 $ a barrel He was ready to prevent regional crude exports if Iranian oil sales were banned by the United States.

The most active Brent LCOc1 futures contract for the September delivery has stabilized 48 cents to $ 78.24 a barrel. The US CLc1 crude oil futures rose 19 cents to $ 74.33 a barrel, at the sight of Tuesday's 3½ year high above $ 75 per barrel. The US market will not have a settlement price due to the US Independence Day party.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appeared on Tuesday to threaten to disrupt oil deliveries from neighboring countries if Washington continued to push all countries to stop buying Iranian oil.

Impending US sanctions on Iranian crude oil exports, Libya's major force majeure and unplanned pipeline cuts in Nigeria have clouded supply prospects despite increased oil production. Organization of the oil exporting countries.

"In an ideal world, an increase in global or regional oil production would put downward pressure on prices, but these are not normal times, as supply breakdowns are almost weekly", said PVM Oil Associates' strategist Tamas Varga.

"In these circumstances, it is justified to advocate for higher prices when production increases are announced," he said.

Crude stocks fell 4.5 million barrels during the week of June 29 to 416.9 million, while analysts expected a drop of 3.5 million barrels. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery center fell 2.6 million barrels, the API said. Crude oil storage at Cushing's oil storage facilities fell after a failure at Syncrude Canada's oil sands facility, with a capacity of 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) near Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Trade was supposed to be limited on Wednesday by the US National Day, although the market was more volatile.

Implied volatility of options, a way to measure uncertainty among traders and investors, is at its highest level since last month's OPEC meeting where an agreement was reached to facilitating production since January 2017. [19659004] With unclear prospects, investors were turning to options to protect against sudden movement, said Harry Tchilinguirian, head of commodities strategy at BNP Paribas.

"When there is consolidation on the market, we also expect a possible price break in both directions.Thus, on the options market, volatility increases," he said. Reuters Global Oil Forum

Investors can bet on various aspects of an option, from the premium to the price and the amount of this option