Treasury Secretary Bessent says US wants to squeeze Iranian oil exports
February 17, 2025
The energy markets are closed today for President’s Day, so no forward contacts are available today.
Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs were up 1 to a total of 481 and last year there were 497 oil rigs in operation.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US aims to squeeze Iran’s oil exports to less than 10% of current levels as President Trump renews a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Tehran’s nuclear program.
I am not sure what this says about our economy, but I have to believe it to be a positive sign that US rail freight for multimodal shipping containers has exhibited a strong recovery for the last 18 months and ended 2024 at a four-year seasonal high.
President Donald Trump’s administration signed an executive order on Friday creating a new energy council to be led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that will seek to expand US output of oil and gas. In addition, President Trump said more than 600 million acres of offshore federal waters are now open to oil and gas development.
Overall, these energy markets are stuck and day to day have been trading on headline news. It will take an event to break this congestion and offer a potential direction for these markets. Traders are watching to see how the renewed peace talks progress between Russia and Ukraine. This could help to increase oil flows and offer some downside to prices if a deal gets put into place. But there are others that see Russia sticking pretty close to their OPEC+ quotas as to not rock this boat.