A price war is building between Middle East oil countries as Iran seeks new customers for its crude to tackle the loss from US sanctions, and is offering its oil at the cheapest level for 14 years. Buyers in Asia, the world’s biggest oil-buying region, are being pressured by the US to stop buying oil from Iran. China has already said it would ignore the sanctions while South Korea and Japan are awaiting news on waiver requests, and India is preparing to buy oil from the US. The Saudis, who have been trying to keep prices low since last year, say they will not cut production until world demand picks up.
A price war is building between Middle East oil countries as Iran seeks new customers for its crude to tackle the loss from US sanctions, and is offering its oil at the cheapest level for 14 years. Buyers in Asia, the world’s biggest oil-buying region, are being pressured by the US to stop buying oil from Iran. China has already said it would ignore the sanctions while South Korea and Japan are awaiting news on waiver requests, and India is preparing to buy oil from the US. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has offered extra supplies to some Asian buyers.