Brent at $72/bbl a sweet spot for oil – ING

Analysts at ING Bank explained that the fall in benchmark crude oil prices is welcome.  

“At $72/bbl, Brent sits in what I feel is the sweet spot for oil, somewhere between $65 and $75. I like this area as it is sufficiently high that the crude producers who buy a lot of Asian manufactured goods, can afford to do so. But it is not so high that importing countries see their current accounts, inflation rates, or even fiscal policy exploded (for those who impose price controls). Those likely to benefit most in Asia are India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.”

“So that’s all good, except that the new US sanctions that come into force on Iranian oil exports threaten to undo all of that. To limit the hit to crude oil from these sanctions, the US has apparently allowed certain countries temporary (180-day) exemptions from these restrictions. There are said to be eight of these countries. I believe the list contains India, South Korea, China, Japan, and Iraq, although I haven’t seen any official list yet. That will no doubt dribble out over the course of the day.”