The European Union formally adopted an oil embargo on January 23 against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country’s central bank as part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear program.
Diplomats said the measures, which were adopted in Brussels by the EU’s 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products, while existing contracts will be allowed to run until July.
EU diplomats are calling the measure part of a twin track approach toward Iran: …

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries kept its forecast for 2012 oil demand unchanged, while warning that Europe’s debt crisis could harm global consumption.
Oil use will increase by 1.1 million barrels a day, or 1.2 percent, to 88.9 million a day this year, OPEC said in its monthly report on January 16. The 69-page document made no reference to Iranian threats to block shipping traffic through the Persian Gulf. OPEC’s production rose to its highest level since October 2008, the report from its Vienna-based secretariat showed.
If Europe’s turmoil “were to …

European Union governments moved closer to halting oil purchases from Iran, stepping up the confrontation over the Islamic republic’s nuclear program.
EU foreign ministers are aiming to announce harsher sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking industries at their next meeting on Jan. 30 after Greece lifted its objections to an oil embargo.
“We want to tighten sanctions on Iran — the things that have been mentioned are the oil sector and the financial sector,” EU spokesman Michael Mann said by telephone in Brussels on January 4.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in …

Federal prosecutors are considering criminal charges against individual BP engineers for allegedly providing federal regulators with false information related to the safety of the well that was at the center of the nation’s largest offshore oil spill, according to a source involved with the case.
The source said it is not yet clear if the Department of Justice will target individual BP employees or focus on charges against the company. But the source said a decision could be made as soon as next month.
The charges could come nearly two years after …

Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries including Iran and Venezuela are in agreement that the group should set a production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day, an OPEC delegate said.
The group may not allocate individual quotas to each of the 12 nations because there may be disagreement on how the total oil output should be distributed, the person said, declining to be identified because the matter hasn’t been decided.