Oil up as U.S. drilling stalls, Iranian sanctions bite | Reuters

Oil up as U.S. drilling stalls, Iranian sanctions bite | Reuters:

Oil prices rose on Monday as U.S. drilling stalled and as investors anticipated lower supply once new U.S. sanctions against Iran’s crude exports kick in from November.

Benchmark Brent crude oil rose $1.09 a barrel, or 1.4 percent, to a high of $77.92 and was trading at $77.85 by 0900 GMT. U.S. light crude was 70 cents higher at $68.45.

“A higher oil price scenario is built on lower exports from Iran due to U.S. sanctions, capped U.S. shale output growth, instability in production in countries like Libya and Venezuela and no material negative impact from a U.S./China trade war on oil demand in the next 6-9 months,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, oil strategist at French bank BNP Paribas.