OFAC (the US Office of Foreign Assets Control) revoked its Iranian-oil GL X (General Licence X) on Tuesday 7 July and issued GL X1, a wind-down-only authorisation that bars any new Iranian contracting and lapses entirely on 17 July1. A general licence is the permission slip that lets firms deal in otherwise-sanctioned barrels; GL X, issued on 21 June, had authorised the production, delivery and sale of Iranian-origin crude, petrochemicals and products through 21 August. GL X1 cuts more than five weeks off that clock.
GL X was the instrument that had sent Brent to a three-month low near $73 in June, before EU Regulation 833/2014 (the bloc's Russian-oil import ban) kept European buyers away from the relief. The revocation runs the film backwards. It front-loads Iranian wind-down cargoes into Asia before the deadline, which firms the same crude spread the Hormuz strikes had already lifted.
OFAC moved on the same day the vessels were hit, not on an administrative calendar. A scheduled 21 August expiry does not get pulled forward five weeks on the afternoon three ships are struck. A dated supply cliff nine days out is a harder catalyst for the spread than a risk premium that can drain in a single session.
