Oil prices rose to a nine-month high Wednesday as International Atomic Energy Agency officials were denied access to an Iranian military base and said negotiations over the country’s nuclear program “couldn’t finalize a way forward.”
Futures climbed for a fifth day after the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear body, said Iran, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer, refused inspectors permission to visit the Parchin base during two days of talks that ended Tuesday.
“We’re just watching the Iranian story play out,” said Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York. “What occurs in the market will depend on the developments there.”
Crude for April delivery increased 3 cents to $106.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since May 4. Futures have gained 14 percent in the past year.
Prices fell after the American Petroleum Institute reported oil inventories rose 3.55 million barrels to a four-month high of 341.4 million last week. The April contract slid as much as 39 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $105.89.
Speculation that oil supplies will be disrupted has increased as tension between Iran and Western nations escalates, David Greely, head of energy research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in New York, said in a report Wednesday. The bank maintained a recommendation that investors buy Brent crude futures contracts for July 2012 to take advantage of rising prices.
Iran said earlier this week that it stopped selling crude to France and Britain in a move designed to pre-empt European sanctions. The European Union on Jan. 23 agreed to ban crude imports from Iran starting July 1 to pressure the country over its nuclear program.
Iran pumped 3.55 million barrels a day of oil in January, according to a Bloomberg News survey of oil companies, producers and analysts. Its output trailed only Saudi Arabia among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
