29.06.201808:24:00UTC+00Crude Oil Up 21% Year-to-date, $90 In View

Crude oil futures were steady Friday morning, clinging to strong recent gains that took prices to the highest since 2014.

WTI light sweet oil was flat at $73.44 a barrel this morning, having surged up 21% year-to-date.

Analysts say that fresh sanctions on Iran could drive oil much higher in the coming months.

The Trump administration says thay will punish those who do business with Iran, so a number of major players have already stopped buying oil from Tehran.

"We are in a very attractive oil price environment and our house view is that oil will hit $90 by the end of the second quarter of next year," Hootan Yazhari, head of frontier markets equity research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said.

"We are moving into an environment where supply disruptions are visible all over the world. and of course President Trump has been pretty active in trying to isolate Iran and getting U.S. allies not to purchase oil from Iran," he added.

The Energy Information Administration said U.S. oil inventories plunged 9.9 million barrels last week, confirming similar figures from the American Petroleum Institute.