"This price for oil is very largely the result of the current United States administration - these expectations of sanctions against Iran, the political problems in Venezuela", Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a conference in Moscow on Wednesday.

Crude oil prices stayed steady Friday after a volatile week that saw the highest prices in four years.

US sanctions on Iran crude exports caused the oil price to rise on Friday.

The US is facing severe sanctions on Iran.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 55 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $74.88 a barrel.

Trump announced he would reimpose USA economic sanctions on Iran in May after walking away from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

He put the country's oil exports volume at 2.8 million oil barrels per day (bpd) and reiterated that OPEC and non-OPEC member states can not make up for Iran's huge oil production volume in the worldwide markets.

Despande went on to say what innumerable analysts have already said: that the big question is if Saudi Arabia has the ability to make up for the shortfall, and while he pointed out they might be able to ramp up appropriately in nine months' time, supplying enough oil in the near term is more problematic.

India will buy 9 million barrels of Iranian oil in November, an industry source told Reuters, indicating that the world's third biggest oil importer would continue to buy crude from the Islamic republic despite US sanctions coming into force on Nov. 4.

Overall US exports also fell 917,000 bpd to 1.7 million bpd in the last week of September, according to the Energy Information Administration, as a stronger US dollar and Brent's premium to WTI fell, making US crude less affordable.

"Legal experts and directors of the governmental and the private sectors, especially in the Health Ministry, and all people who witness violation of the ICJ's ruling are needed to present their proofs on the violation cases to be raised at the main sessions of the court on Iran-U.S. dispute", Laya Joneidi said, addressing a forum in Tehran on Sunday. With China, the world's largest importer of oil, set to wind down its imports of Iranian oil, a supply shock is all but guaranteed and, with it, $100 oil. Iran had around 8 million-10 million barrels of crude and condensate on floating storage as of October 3, mostly off its main crude oil terminals.

While Russia's involvement in brokering this no-longer-secret deal with the Saudis seems to contradict its own geopolitical interests and public statements, there are a few motives that seem to explain the Russian decision to aid the USA effort to offset a coming supply shock resulting from the removal of Iranian oil from the global market.

Fundamentals indicate a price in the high $70s for Brent, but the reality is seen above that, he said.