Oil Prices Hold Steady As Market Balances Economic Data Against Iran Threat

Benchmark oil prices held steady last week, with WTI just under the $100/B mark and Brent around $110/B. Positive data for the US economy was balanced against talk of economic concerns at the Davos summit of global leaders, Iran’s threat to cut crude exports to Europe, before the EU embargo could be put in place this summer and news that Libyan crude production had returned to 1.3mn b/d.

In its Weekly...