International sanctions have now been lifted on Iran but what's the fallout likely to be ?

Eamonn had the announcement here and we've already seen a 7% fall in Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All Share Index to its lowest level since March 2011, and Dubai's DFM General down 5.2%, its biggest loss in 5 months, while Iran's TEDPIX Index has climbed 3% on a relief rally.

Iran has 10% of the world's proven oil reserves and its oil supply will now come to market but the key question remains, as Eamonn also highlighted, is how much of this anticipated move has been a factor already in the recent oil price collapse?

Iran's deputy oil minister was reported earlier today by the Shana news agency as saying they are ready to increase its daily export of 1.1m barrels of crude oil.

"With consideration to global market conditions and the surplus that exists, Iran is ready to raise its crude oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day."

Adam though reported this originally back in October while in November we had the Iranian oil minister making it quite clear that they did not need OPEC approval to raise production. This week I reported a couple of comments from the IEA and EU which certainly pre-empted the additional supply and that has been the scenario for some time. Brent crude closed the week near its lows at $28.94 and WTI similarly at $29.42 so we'll first note the action in the futures markets and then get some clues as to the current balance/thinking when trading fully re--opens.

Sell rumour buy fact? I profess I do not claim to be an oil expert, or indeed a regular oil trader, but I have long been a bear for the global economy and can readily understand why oil prices have come under pressure. While I leave the technical analysis to those who know better my fundamental advice on these pages regarding oil price has for a long while now tended to the downside.

Iran's potential return has been mooted for some time but it has only been one part of the jigsaw. What we need to see now is how much has been factored in and exactly how much this additional supply will impact. My guess is we may see some knee-jerk relief-rally in price initially if the market is oversold on the Iran factor but it's a big unknown. Either way the reduced demand will continue to be a real concern and the pressure on oil prices will not be going away any time soon unless OPEC and non-OEC states impose new quotas for starters.

The BBC has a comprehensive look at this and many of the other Iran-related issues here .