US imports of unfinished oils from Russia averaged 472,000 b/d in November, the most since May 2013, when the same amount of unfinished oils was imported from Russia.

Brent rose 24 cents, or 0.4%, to $55.17 a barrel, WTI were up 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $51.10 a barrel,

The US was prepared to sanction Rosneft if it continued to trade crude oil and fuel with PDVSA, but analysts said those sanctions have yet to be imposed because of the expected impact they may have on the global oil market.

The EU has agreed to sanctions against two officials from Turkey’s state petroleum company.

The potential that the waivers would lapse has raised concerns since 2019 that state-owned Russian nuclear company Rosatom, which does work for Iran's civilian nuclear program but also supplies a fifth of US enriched uranium, could be sanctioned, disrupting the supply of nuclear fuel to US utilities.

Following the Jan. 28, 2019 ban on U.S. firms importing Venezuelan crude, the United States has not followed through on threats to extend the sanctions to any foreign company doing business with PDVSA, as it seeks to oust socialist Maduro.

The US State Department on Thursday set sanctions against companies in Dubai, Hong Kong, and Shanghai,

The waiver allows Chevron, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Weatherford International to continue certain work with PDVSA, outside of US sanctions.

Iran's economy shrank by 4.6% in the 2018-2019 fiscal year and the contraction is expected to deepen to 7.2% in the current fiscal year, the IIF, a finance industry body, said this week.

I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that Iran continues to be the world's leading sponsor of terrorism and that Iran has threatened United States military assets and civilians through the use of military force and support to Iranian-backed militia groups.