Oil rises on tighter supply outlook

 NEW YORK, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Crude prices rose on Friday as supplies tended to be tight on new Iran sanctions and production problems in North Sea.

There was news on Thursday saying that the Obama administration expanded sanctions on Iran, in an effort to pressure the Middle East country to abandon its disputed nuclear program. The geopolitical concerns came back to the center of the oil market.

The U.S. Treasury¹ and State Department targeted 11 companies working under Iran's Ministry² of Defense³ for Armed Forces Logistics and dozens of banks and shipping⁴ companies that the U.S. believed were attempting to help Iran evade⁵ an EU oil import embargo⁶ against Iran.

U.S. official said the new sanctions focused on blocking Iran's efforts to continue exporting oil.

Besides Iran sanctions, the North Sea, important oil field for Europe and the globe, faced some production problems, which also dented⁷ to the crude supplies.

On the economic front, China's GDP growth rate for the second quarter slowed for a sixth consecutive⁸ quarter to 7.6 percent. Although it was the weakest pace in more than three years, it still eased concerns among the investors⁹ about a sharp slowdown in the world second largest economy.

And after the slowdown, investors were hoping that China's government could adopt more stimulus¹⁰ policies.

The Reuter's/University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index slipped 1.2 to 72.0 in July. And the U.S. producer price index unexpectedly edged up instead of declining as expected in June.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose 1.02 dollars, or 1. 18 percent to settle at 87.10 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent crude for August delivery also jumped over 1 percent and last traded around 102 dollars a barrel.

1 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

6 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

7 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。