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Brent crude oil futures rise to $76.74 - highest since Nov. 2014

  • Oil is solidly bid in Asia on Iran deal fallout. 
  • The US to reimpose sanctions on Iran in 180 days, oil market could tighten significantly in second half of 2018. 

Brent oil rose to $76.74 in Asia - the highest level since November 2014 as investors anticipate a significant tightening of the oil markets in the second half of this year, courtesy of Iran deal fallout. 

The US President Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran that was agreed in late 2015 and is set to reimpose sanctions on OPEC's third biggest exporter of crude -  a move which will likely result in a drop in Iran's exports to Europe and Asia and a faster tightening of the oil market.

Moreover, Iran had re-emerged as a top exporter of oil after sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program. 

Consequently, oil benchmarks are looking northwards and could continue gaining altitude if the weekly US government report shows a drop in the inventory. 

Brent Oil Technical Outlook

'Brent oil could rise to $76.90-$77.79 range", Wang Tao is a Reuters market analyst for commodities and energy technicals. 

Key quotes

"Oil has more or less cleared the resistance at $76.34. It is gaining more towards the range of $76.90-$77.79, which is formed by the 223.6 percent and 238.2 percent projection levels of an uptrend from $63.19."

"Support is at $75.45 (first chart), a break below which may cause a loss into $74-$74.62 range."

Author

Omkar Godbole

Omkar Godbole

FXStreet Contributor

Omkar Godbole, editor and analyst, joined FXStreet after four years as a research analyst at several Indian brokerage companies.

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