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Oil prices gain amid geopolitical tensions

Xinhua, January 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Oil prices moved up Thursday amid rising geopolitical tensions in Middle East.

The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered to proceed the country's missile program "with high speed and seriously" and expand Iran's missile capabilities, in response to the U.S. sanctions, official news agency IRNA reported.

President Rouhani's remarks followed the U.S. Treasury Department's recent announcement that it was considering sanctions against a number of Iranian and international individuals and agencies for their alleged involvement in developing Iran's ballistic missile program.

Iran is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) which is supposed to add more crude output in 2016 after the lift of sanctions.

Oil prices were dragged down recently by the global supply glut. The OPEC on Dec. 4 decided to keep crude production pumping at the current level in the already oversupplied market.

Thanks to the U.S. shale oil revolution, American oil production has almost doubled in the past six years.

The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery moved up 44 cents to settle at 37.04 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery increased 82 cents to close at 37.28 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Endit