Benson: The United States may lift the ban on "offshore" Iranian crude oil in the coming days to lower oil prices.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Benett stated that the U.S. may lift the ban on Iranian oil supplies "at sea" in the coming days to help lower oil prices. Benett said in an interview on Thursday: "In the coming days, we may lift the ban on Iranian oil at sea." The Treasury Secretary pointed out that the U.S. currently allows Iranian oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with about 140 million barrels of crude oil "at sea." "Depending on the method of calculation, this is equivalent to a supply of 10 to two weeks." Benett said: "We will use Iran's oil to counter Iran in order to maintain low prices in the next 10 to 14 days and continue our actions." Benett stated that when the U.S. takes action to "lift" Iranian crude oil at sea, along with several countries releasing oil reserves, there will be "an excess energy supply of about 260 million barrels" in the market. He also said: "The U.S. can unilaterally release strategic oil reserves again to lower prices." Benett mentioned that the market had speculated that the U.S. Treasury Department would intervene in the oil futures market, but "we will absolutely not do that." He emphasized: "We do not intervene in the financial markets. We do not intervene in the financial markets, we are supplying oil to the physical market."