On Thursday, the oil market experienced an instant collapse of quotations ("flash crash") on the news of the lifting of sanctions against Iranian officials.
Oil prices began a sharp decline. In just five minutes, "black gold" fell by about one and a half dollars (2.2%), after which the recovery began and prices returned to their previous level in about two hours.
The United States has lifted sanctions on key officials of the Iranian oil industry, paving the way for a possible deal to lift the embargo against one of the largest OPEC suppliers and resume sales of Iranian oil.
While the lifting of sanctions on Iranian officials looks promising for Tehran, the real prospect of talks in Vienna remains hazy. On Wednesday, the head of the presidential Administration of Iran, Mahmoud Vaezi, said that despite the progress, agreements on the lifting of the oil embargo have not yet been reached.
In a comment to Reuters, a U.S. official said the U.S. action was a "routine" procedure that had nothing to do with negotiations with Iran on the nuclear deal.
The United States maintains sanctions against the Iranian oil sector. In 2018, Donald Trump, then president of the United States, withdrew from an international agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program and reinstated all sanctions on Iranian oil.
However, the Joe Biden administration returned to negotiations with Tehran, and in mid-May, Bloomberg reported on the preparation of the Iranian oil industry for the lifting of sanctions.
According to optimistic forecasts, within three months, Iran can return to the pre-sanctions level of oil production, which is 4 million barrels. per day. In May, Iran's oil production was 2.5 million barrels per day.