By Shariq Khan
(Reuters) – Oil prices rose in early Asian trading on Friday, and were set for their second consecutive weekly gains, after fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran and a new OPEC+ plan for seven members to cut output raised bets on tightening supply.
Brent crude futures climbed 42 cents, or 0.6%, to $72.40 per barrel by 0026 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $68.52 a barrel.
On a weekly basis, both Brent and WTI were on track to rise about 2%, their biggest weekly gains since the first week of 2025.
The United States Treasury on Thursday announced new Iran-related sanctions, which for the first time targeted an independent Chinese refiner among other entities and vessels involved in supplying Iranian crude oil to China.
That marked Washington’s fourth round of sanctions against Iran since U.S. President Donald Trump in February vowed to reimpose a “maximum pressure” campaign on Tehran, pledging to drive the country’s oil exports to zero.
Analysts at ANZ Bank said they expect a 1 million barrels per day (bpd) reduction in Iranian crude oil exports because of tighter sanctions.
Vessel tracking service Kpler pegged Iranian crude oil exports at over 1.8 million bpd in February, cautioning that the masking of Iranian vessel activity due to sanctions could lead to revisions to those numbers.
Oil prices were also supported by a new OPEC+ plan announced Thursday for seven members to further cut output to make up for producing more than agreed levels. The plan would represent monthly cuts of between 189,000 bpd and 435,000 bpd, and will last until June 2026.
The plan will buffer all the supply increments that OPEC+ had previously announced will take effect from next month, Kpler’s head of Middle East energy Amena Bakr said in a post on social media service X.
OPEC+ earlier this month confirmed that eight of its members would proceed with a monthly increase of 138,000 bpd from April, reversing some of the 5.85 million bpd of output cuts agreed in a series of steps since 2022 to support the market.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in New York; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
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