The oil market should brace for a forever stalemate in Iran

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

No gift articles left

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

The oil market sees the future of the Iran war as binary. Either Tehran and Washington reach a deal — in days rather than months — or they head into an extended and worsening conflict.

With few signs of peace, the market is anticipating another round of hostilities, perhaps as soon as next week after the US midterm elections. There is a third path: The current deadlock becomes the new normal, creating a forever stalemate.

With the on-off conflict already approaching 250 days and the price of oil hovering above $US100 a barrel, the prospect of months of continued standstill sounds bewildering, but I have increasingly heard — in private — that some executives in the top echelons of the global energy industry are starting to prepare for such an outcome.

President Donald Trump says he wants to break the impasse. “I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal?” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on October 25.

Problem is that he’s made similar remarks multiple times since the war started. Seemingly, the Islamic Republic........

© WA Today