Price of crude oil - rising due to the sanctions against Iran

The price of crude yesterday rose for the first time in the last four days, amid the fears generated by the new sanctions against Iran, namely the potential disruption of crude deliveries from this country.

The price of crude with January delivery rose 1.59 dollars (1.6%) at 09:51, New York Mercantile Exchange, reaching 98.51 dollars/barrel. This year, the price of oil rose over 7% on the American market, after rising over 15% in 2010.

On the ICE Futures Europe in London, the price of Brent crude with January delivery rose 1.58 dollars (1.5%) yesterday, to 108.46 dollars/barrel.

On Monday, the authorities in Washington decided to impose new sanctions in Iran, which affect first and foremost the banking and oil sector. Also, Great Britain announced it would cut all its existing ties between its financial sector and that of Iran, and Canada would block all transactions with Teheran.

The Obama administration announced that the entire financial sector of Iran - including its Central Bank - is involved in money laundering. But, even though Obama warned that the United States are targeting even the Iranian Central Bank, Washington has avoided sanctioning the institution, which manages the earnings from the Iranian oil exports, of over 2 million dollar barrels a day, due to fears over the impact that such a measure would have on the oil market and the economy of the world.

Iranian authorities consider that the new measures intended for the country's petrochemical sector will only cause the price to rise, rather than the stopping of the country's exports, which amounted to 8.6 billion dollars in 2010.