Over the past few months, oil market participants and analysts focused on OPEC’s production cuts, soaring U.S. shale output, the U.S.-China trade dispute, projections of slowing oil demand growth, and most recently—the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry. While these factors are still on everyone’s mind, the U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil are also returning to focus with the six-month waivers to key Iranian oil customers expiring in six weeks. The U.S. Administration continues to signal that the ultimate goal of the sanctions is zero Iranian exports, yet analysts believe that oil prices at end-April early-May will be a key factor in the decision whether to extend the waivers and demand additional reductions from Iranian oil customers. Meanwhile, Iran’s key buyers in Asia ramped up imports in January and February compared to November and December last year, when there was a lot of confusion over who is getting waivers […]