Investing.com - Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday, as upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran continued to increase the cost of oil.
West Texas Crude oil futures surged 1.05% to $66.11 a barrel as of 10:30 AM ET (14:30 GMT). Meanwhile Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., increased 0.57% to $72.62.
Oil prices have been driven higher in the past few months as demand for oil outsrips supply and upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran have also supported prices. The financial sanctions against Iran were introduced this month by the U.S. government and will target the petroleum sector of Iran in November.
The European Union is expected to stop buying oil from Iran. French oil giant Total, one of the largest European buyers of Iranian oil, plans to halt imports. However China has said it would continue buying large volumes of Iranian oil despite U.S. pressure.
A drop of crude supply is expected in November when the U.S. sanctions against Iran will take effect. U.S. offered on Monday 11 million barrels of crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve for delivery from Oct. 1 to Nov. 31 to prevent a huge jump in oil prices once the sanctions kick in.
Meanwhile the oil rig count in the U.S. was unchanged last week, according to the Baker Hughes services firm as weaker oil prices stalled the pace of U.S. production growth.
Still, the oil rig count in North America has jumped in the last two years hitting its highest level since March 2015..
In other energy trading, Gasoline RBOB Futures rose 0.47% at $2.0209 a gallon, while heating oil was up 0.86% to $2.1319 a gallon. Natural gas futures inched up 0.68% to $2.961 per million British thermal units.