"What Iran Nuclear Talks Mean for Oil Prices"

"Iran hopes to bring an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day back online in the coming months if a deal can be signed, a volume that would crush oil prices."

"The fate of global oil prices will be determined in Lausanne, Switzerland this week.

An unlikely location for oil markets, to be sure, but that is where U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif for intense negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The P5+1 countries and Iran hope to come to an 11th hour agreement that could pave the way for a historic thaw in relations. The deadline for a deal is the end of the month, or Tuesday night.

Although nuclear weapons proliferation is the headline item, one of the most significant side effects of the negotiations will be their effect on the price of oil. Iran, as a member of OPEC and a major oil producer on the world stage, still has substantial influence on oil markets."

Nick Cunningham reports for the Christian Science Monitor March 31, 2015.