Goldman Sachs expects the U.S.’s decision to end exemptions from sanctions for eight countries still buying oil from Iran to have a limited impact on crude prices — even though the timing is likely to have caught energy market participants by surprise.
“While we acknowledge the near-term upside price risks, we reiterate our fundamentally derived Brent price trading range of $70-75 per barrel for the second quarter of 2019,” the U.S. investment bank said in a research note published Monday, Reuters reported.
In a press conference Monday (monitored by Kallanish Energy), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. was not extending the waivers to the Iranian sanctions past the May 2 expiration date.
The eight economies initially allowed to continue buying Iranian crude without facing penalties include: China, India, Japan, Turkey, Italy, Greece, South Korea and Taiwan.
China and India have been Iran’s largest crude customers.
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