Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters – After soaring to seven-year highs in their previous session, oil prices took a rest on Wednesday as it became obvious that sanctions imposed by the U.S. on Russia for sending soldiers into Eastern Ukraine were not going to disrupt supply.

The potential return to Iran of crude oil to the market with Tehran and the world powers near to revitalizing a nuclear accord also kept prices under control. Prices had risen seven years ago to their highest point in this session.

After soaring to 99.50 on Tuesday (the highest level since September 2014), the barrel price fell by 13 cents or 0.1% to $96.71 at 0142 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures (WTI), fell 6.1% to $91.85/barrel after reaching $96 Tuesday.

On Tuesday, prices rose on fears that sanctions against Russia’s sending troops to two regions of eastern Ukraine were going to impact energy supplies. However, the United States assured us there will be no effect on exports.

According to a top U.S. State Department official, “The sanctions currently being imposed as well as those which could be imposed soon are not targeting or will not affect oil and gasoline flows.” He spoke out late Tuesday night.

The European Union, Britain, and the United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday against Russian banks.

The possibility of Iran returning more than 1,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day to the United States could further dampen prices. Diplomats claimed that Iran and the world powers are close to an agreement on Tehran’s nuke program.

“Diplomats are able to agree on the conclusion of negotiations, which signalling relief for global oil market,” ANZ Research analyst said in a memo.

Vivek Dahar, Commonwealth Bank commodity analyst, said the biggest unknown was how fast Iran can actually grow its exports.

He said that Iran and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (or OPEC+) have had difficulty meeting their production targets because of underinvestment on oil infrastructure.