Monday, Feb. 24, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Department of State imposed sanctions on 30 individuals and vessels that presumably participated in the sale and transportation of Iranian petroleum.
The individual sanctioned include oil brokers in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong, tanker operators and managers in India and China, the head of Iran's National Iranian Oil Company, and the Iranian Oil Terminals Company, "whose operations help finance Iran's destabilizing activities," according to a Department of the Treasury statement.
The front-month NYMEX WTI futures edged down by $0.41 to $70.29 bbl while the April ICE Brent futures contract fell by $0.49 to $74.29 bbl.
The U.S. Dollar Index fell by 0.19% to 106.32 against a basket of foreign currencies.
Despite recent stricter sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil trade, oil futures prices remain under downward pressure due to increasing U.S. crude inventories in recent weeks, amid weak global demand and the high volatility generated by the trade tariff war led by the Trump administration.
Downstream, the Energy Information Administration reported that the national average for retail regular gasoline fell after two weeks of gains, down by 2.3cts to $3.125 gallon as of Monday, Feb. 24, 12.4cts lower than the corresponding week last year.
The West Coast PADD five average retail regular gasoline prices rose a ninth week, edging up 0.1ct to 32-week high $4.188 gallon as of Monday, 10.6cts more than the same time in 2024, EIA said.
EIA data also showed the U.S. average on highway diesel fuel price rose a fourth week, up 2.0cts to a five-week high $3.697 gallon as of Monday, 36.1cts lower than the same week in 2024.
The ULSD futures contract for March delivery increased by $0.0040 to $2.4398 gallon while March RBOB futures contract rose by $0.0064 to $2.0174 gallon.