May 10, 2012, Iran announced the discovery of a huge oil field in the Caspian Sea.  The discovery was made while exploring a huge new gas field.

The gas field was discovered in December, and named the Sardar-e Jangal field.  It’s estimated to contain 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

May 9, 2012, Iran’s Oil Ministry is now allowing the private sector to sell up to 400,000 bpd to international customers.

The decision leaves the National Iranian Oil Company, as well as the Iranian central bank, out of any oil sales involving private sector companies. This means those private sector companies can avoid the U.S./European oil sanctions.

Despite U.S. led sanctions against Iranian oil, Turkey (a NATO member) actually increased oil shipments from Iran.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey imported 270,000 bpd of Iranian oil in March. That’s more than double their February imports!

May 10, 2012, officials from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) members are reporting that there is too much oil in the world markets!

OPEC reported that in April they pumped out 31.62 million barrels per day (bpd). According to Reuters, that’s 1.62 million bpd more than what OPEC intended.

Keep in mind that OPEC does not represent all oil producing countries in the world. Reuters reports that even non-OPEC members increased oil production in April!

However, OPEC, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), expect demand for oil to increase, especially since Japan has shut down all its nuclear reactors.

The U.S. EIA also reporting that natural gas supplies increased in the United States.  For the week ending May 4, U.S. natural gas storage is at 2.606 trillion cubic feet.  That’s 44.5% above the five year average. However, analysts expected it to be more!