WTI sticks to gains above $70 in post-settlement trade after API report

• API’s weekly report shows a  9.2 million barrels decrease in crude stocks in the U.S.
• Iran’s supply is expected to decrease toward the end of the year.

Crude oil prices recorded sharp gains in the second half of the day on Tuesday on the back of reports claiming that the United States was going to push its allies to halt importing oil from Iran. The barrel of West Texas Intermediate added more than $2 during the NA session and touched its highest level in over a month at $70.86. In the post-settlement trade, the barrel of WTI was up 3.8% on the day at $70.70.

Earlier today, a senior State Department official who wanted to remain anonymous told reporters that Washington was planning to tell its allies to stop importing from crude oil.  “This is a new development. If we are going to see more Iranian barrels coming off the market, that is likely to be bullish for U.S. exports,”  Matt Smith, director of commodities research at ClipperData, told Reuters.

On the other hand, the weekly report released by the American Petroleum Institute showed that crude inventories in the United States dropped by 9.2 million barrels in the week ending June 22 to surpass the experts’ expectation  for a decrease of 2.6 million barrels.

Meanwhile,  the disruption at Syncrude Canada, which produces  360,000 bpd, is confirmed to last until the end of July, which provided an additional boost to U.S. crude prices.