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The futures on crude oil rose slightly on Monday after the US government is preparing to remove the rule that wants transparency of payments by the energy and metallurgical companies to foreign governments. If approved, the change will mean fewer restrictions for US energy companies investing in foreign countries.

The futures on US WTI crude oil with delivery in March rose by 0.09 USD, or 0.17%, to 53.92 USD per barrel, while the Brent oil with delivery in April rose by 0.25 USD, or 0.44%, to 57.06 USD per barrel.

Over the weekend, the crude oil rose after the news that administration of Donald Trump is preparing to change the Dodd–Frank law, including canceling the requirement for extractive industry corporations, such as oil and gas companies, to disclose their payments to foreign governments. The transparency rule of the Securities and Exchange Commission came into force in 2010. The intention was to reduce corruption in resource-rich countries, as the energy and mining companies are required to declare royalties and payments made to other governments.

The White House said that the rule of the Commission “would impose unreasonable compliance costs on American energy companies, which are not justified by quantifiable benefits. Moreover, US companies may face a competitive disadvantage in cases where foreign competitors are not subject to similar rules”.

Another movement of the oil price was the tensions between USA and Iran, which forced the growth of commodity price. The decision of USA to impose new restrictions on Iran, after Middle East country tested ballistic missile, actually increases the risk of additional pressure that will disrupt the supply.

Iran, which produces about 3.7 million barrels per day, returned to global oil markets in January last year after being lifted sanctions against oil exports. Although the country is a participant in the transaction to reduce production of OPEC, Tehran is aggressively seeking new investment to rebuild its oil industry, but the re-imposing of sanctions will fail this plan.

More stable oil price is partly due to the fact that OPEC apparently concluded quite good deal on limiting production. The data for the industry group in January will be presented today.

