Oil industry experts suggest Europe will review its proposed embargo on Iranian oil before it comes into force this July.
Jorge Montepeque, the director of global market reporting at energy agency Platts speaking to RT says, “I don’t thing Europe is ready to cut themselves off from oil from one of their important suppliers. But Europe is very worried about nuclear programme issues and things like that”. He goes on to say, “It puts a question mark on whether anything substantive is going to happen or perhaps Europe is trying to see if dialogue could really occur with Iran by pushing it forward so much and by reviewing it in May, in fact it may not be implemented”. Iran is threatening to shut the Straits of Hormuz, one of the world’s major ship routes, if the embargo goes ahead. “If the Iranians close the Straits of Hormuz or if passage is interrupted the affect on the global economy would be very severe. Not just for Europe or just Asia, but for the entire planet. Depending on the length of the closure you can see the prices rising to $150 a barrel or higher,” he said.In an interview with Business RT Jorge Montepeque explained what are the chances of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and what countries are likely to ignore the embargo and keep doing business as usual.