Since the United States is addicted to imposing sanctions and pursuing economic pressure, Biden continues his predecessor Donald Trump’s policy against Iran and the US chief executive speaks of putting pressure on Iran via oil sanction when it comes to the two aforementioned events.
In a memo to the US State Department, Biden claimed that there are sufficient supplies of petroleum so other countries can reduce crude purchase from Iran.
Iranian economy’s dependency on oil revenues paved the way for enemies to focus on energy sector. The United States has imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil export since the Obama administration.
Now, Biden’s evaluation of the world oil market is that the amount of supply and demand for crude oil is balanced. That is while conditions would change at the cost of consumers with the start of the cold season. It is also worth mentioning that the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has affected demands for crude oil, but the situation is altering following mass vaccinations around the globe.
The world was consuming more than 100 million barrels per day (bpd) before the outbreak. The consumption declined to around 90 million bpd in recent months, but it is estimated more than 96 million bpd now.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicted that the global demand for crude oil would be slightly less than 100 million bpd in the final quarter of this year. Given the facts and figures, it seems that the US wants to lead the oil market in line with its policies. Reuters has reported that the US plans to supply additional demands for oil through tapping on its own unconventional energy resources in 2022.
According to S&P Global, oil production was lower than 96 million bpd, which caused prices to surpass 80 dollars a barrel. Moreover, the prices hit a three-year high of 86 dollars, following a decline in supplies by OPEC Plus.
The United States has imposed oil sanctions on Iran in several occasions, including in the Obama administration in 2012 and following the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, in order to prevent the Islamic Republic from exporting crude oil and attaining petroleum revenues.
Biden’s remark on global oil market’s independence from Iranian oil shows that the US wants to put pressure on China to stop or reduce crude import from Iran; of course, there are many other important issues concerning trade and tariff war between the two powers. Analysts also believe that two weeks prior to the Vienna talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US president wants to raise the issue of more sanctions in a bid to stand against Iranians’ insistence on lifting all nuclear-related sanctions.