LIVE CRUDE OIL NEWS UPDATE ::
Oil markets were firm on Tuesday, with Brent crude holding near four-year highs reached the previous day as markets adjust to the prospect of tighter supply once the U.S. sanctions against Iran kick in next month.
International benchmark Brent crude oil futures were at $85.03 per barrel at 0439 GMT, up 5 cents from their last close, and not far off the $85.45 peak reached in the previous session, the highest since November 2014.
“Crude prices continued their meteoric rise as Canada and (the) U.S. updated the NAFTA treaty, which would augur well for economic growth,” said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta.
More fundamentally, oil markets have been pushed up by looming U.S. sanctions against Iran’s oil industry, which at its most recent peak this year supplied almost 3 percent of the world’s almost 100 million barrels of daily consumption.