Iran’s standoff with the West over its nuclear programme is making an impact on oil markets, following the decision by the US to extend secondary boycott measures to include Iran’s refining and petrochemical sectors, and by the UK and Canada to ban dealings with Iran’s financial sector.
These measures were taken in the light of the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear activities, the agency’s strongest statement to date on the possible military dimensions of the country’s nuclear programme.
More recently, France announced a unilateral ban on imports of Iranian crude oil. But France is not a major buyer of Iranian oil, importing just 49,000 barrels per day in the first half of this year.
Furthermore, unilateral sanctions do not have a great record in influencing the actions of targeted states. The US, for example, has not bought any Iranian oil since the 1979 revolution. And whatever barrels Iran cannot sell to France, or others in the EU—Italy is reported to be urging domestic firms to shun Iranian oil—it will be able to sell elsewhere, largely to energy-hungry markets in Asia. These days, most Iranian barrels head east.
The EIU's Energy Briefing provides ten-year forecasts and daily news analysis for the world's most important energy markets, along with a database developed in association with the International Energy Agency.
