Crude Set for Weekly Rise on OPEC+ Supply Control

Crude oil prices were set for another weekly gain today, driven higher by fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran’s energy industry and OPEC+ efforts to rein in production.

At the time of writing, Brent crude was trading at $72.28 per barrel, with West Texas Intermediate at $68.26 per barrel, both up from opening and both about $1 higher than they were at the start of the week.

The U.S. Department of Treasury yesterday announced another round of sanctions against Iran as part of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Tehran that aims to bring the country’s oil exports down to zero as a means of preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon and funding militant organizations in the Middle East.

What makes these sanctions different is that the entities sanctioned by the U.S. this time include a private Chinese refiner—for the first time. As a result, ANZ analysts expect Iranian oil exports to shrink by as much as 1 million bpd.

“So-called ‘teapot’ refinery purchases of Iranian oil provide the primary economic lifeline for the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and the primary backer of the murderous Houthis in Yemen,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an X post, as quoted by Reuters.

On Thursday, OPEC+ released a plan for seven laggards in the cuts that need to compensate for overproduction. Per that plan, the seven members of the group will be cutting their combined production by between 189,000 barrels daily and 435,000 barrels daily, with these compensation cuts set to last until June next year.

This compares to a daily production volume of 138,000 bpd that OPEC+ agreed to bring back to market from next month as part of original plans to wind down production cuts at some point when market conditions allow it. The wind-down is reversible, however, as Russia’s Alexander Novak reminded the media recently.