The German Economy Ministry has taken note of the threat of U.S. sanctions being placed on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday, adding that Berlin rejected sanctions that have extraterritorial effect.

Despite significant U.S. oil sanctions on the OPEC member nation, Maduro has held on to power, backed by Cuba, Russia and China, and retains the support of the country’s military and other institutions.

China's crude oil imports from Iran, the March volume rose 6.2% from February on a barrels-per-day basis, despite dropping by a quarter from the same month of last year.

"Not extending the oil waivers of some countries is another side of the US measures against Iran. But if Iran's oil is fully sanctioned, oil price will go higher than $100 per barrel,"

Iran’s economy shrank by 3.9 percent last year, according to IMF estimates, and is expected to shrink by 6 percent in 2019, Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia department, told Reuters adding, however, that the projection preceded the latest elimination of waivers.

China is resolutely opposed to the United States enforcing unilateral sanctions or “long armed jurisdiction”, Geng Shuang, a ministry spokesman, told a daily news briefing.

Oil futures settled at fresh six-month highs Monday as the market looked at an increasingly tight global supply picture in light of the White House decision. ICE June Brent settled up $2.07/b at $74.04/b, and NYMEX May WTI settled $1.70/b higher at $65.70/b. Monday marked the highest front-month settle for both contracts since late October, just before the US sanctions snapped back.

IEA - Until recently, Venezuela’s oil production had stabilised at around 1.2 mb/d. During the past week, industry operations were seriously disrupted and ongoing losses on a significant scale could present a challenge to the market.

U.S. DT - the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated six Russian individuals and eight entities in response to Russia’s continued and ongoing aggression in Ukraine.

PLATTS - China's crude imports from Venezuela surged 50.7% month on month to 411,000 b/d or 1.74 million mt in January, posting the fifth month in a row of increase after hitting a four-year low last September, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed