Iran factor unlikely to prevail in world oil price trends - Russian lawmaker

MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/. An historic deal reached on Iran’s nuclear program paving the way for the international community to lift sanctions from the energy-rich Islamic Republic will hardly prevail over other factors influencing oil price trends, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Friday. A new round of talks between Iran and the Group of Six world powers (Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China as five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) came to an end in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Thursday. The Iranian nuclear negotiators adopted a comprehensive action plan on Iran’s controversial nuclear program that would help lift all political and economic sanctions from Iran, if it implemented it consistently. Experts earlier warned that world oil prices would drop to $5 per barrel, if the Iran Six nuclear negotiators came to agreement with the Islamic Republic. Experts said world oil supply could increase by 1-1.5 million barrels per day, if the sanctions were lifted from Iran. "I believe the Iran factor will add to the oil price downward trend but will fail to produce dominating influence that would outperform reverse-trend factors. Oil price is influenced by many oppositely directed factors," said Alexey Pushkov, chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the State Duma (the lower house of Russia’s parliament). The senior lawmaker mentioned instability in oil-rich Libya as a factor that would oppose the downward oil price trend caused by the Iran nuclear deal. "If instability intensifies, Libya will fall out from the group of reliable oil suppliers in the foreseeable future," Pushkov said. If the crisis in Yemen seized by Houthi rebels persists, then Yemeni ports will stop exporting oil in volumes, which the Middle East country used to export before, which is also a factor that could push up oil prices, the lawmaker said. "Saudi Arabia’s basic oil reserves are located in the country’s south-western province adjacent to Yemen. That is why, in case of military operations, a certain threat to these deposits may arise," the Russian lawmaker said. Read more