Oil
traded near the highest price in nine months after euro-area finance ministers
agreed on a second bailout for Greece, improving prospects for fuel demand.
China’s
crude imports from Iran in January fell 5 percent
from a year ago and 14 percent from December, the
General Administration of Customs said in a statement.
Oil
futures for March delivery, which expire on 21 February, advanced as much as
$2.20 to $105.44, the highest intraday price since May 5 on the New York
Mercantile Exchange.
The
EU said that member countries are cutting oil purchases from Iran and have
sufficient reserves to deal with disruptions. The EU agreed to stop purchases
of Iranian crude starting July 1 in a move to punish the Persian Gulf country’s
nuclear program.
Japan’s
government has yet to agree with the Obama administration on an exemption to a
U.S. law that would punish banks doing business with Iran, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba said in Tokyo. Japan
is still negotiating over cutting Iranian oil imports, he said.
Libya,
holder of the largest oil reserves in Africa, won’t be able to restore oil
production to pre-war levels before the end of 2013 at the earliest, Shokri Ghanem, the former
chairman of Libya’s National Oil Corp., said in an interview on 20 February.
Libyan
Oil Minister Abdul-Rahman Ben Yezza
said on Dec. 14 that the country’s crude output will return to its pre-conflict
level in the third quarter of 2012. The country is restoriing
production disrupted by fighting last year that led to the ouster of
then-leader Muammar Qaddafi.