Oil falls again

SINGAPORE. – Russia’s energy minister said yesterday no emergency action was warranted to stem a decline in oil prices, as crude benchmarks fell again.

Alexander Novak reporters on the sideline of an international conference in Singapore that long-term oil prices should be taken into consideration when any decision was taken by oil producing countries.

He was talking as oil markets fell again, extending losses from a 7 percent plunge the previous session as surging supply and the spectre of faltering demand scared off investors.

Novak said oil prices had averaged around $70 per barrel this year.

“The market is quite volatile today. We remember that the oil price was sharply rising in the same way, now it is going down. We have to look into long-term development, into how the price will be stabilized,” he said.

“It’s not right for market participants to react to any one-off fluctuations,” he said.

Novak also said the oil market still did not fully understand the fallout from U.S. sanctions against Iran, and how buyers would behave.

The US announced the reinstatement of sanctions earlier this month against Iran over Tehran’s activities in the Middle East.

Eight importing countries have been given temporary exemptions by the US to keep buying Iranian oil, prompting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to say Washington would not be able to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero. – Reuters.