Yesterday, the approval of Greece's second bailout plan and the further tension in Iran situation drove international oil prices to a 9-month high. After Eurozone finance ministers agreed early yesterday morning on the second rescue for Greece, the market expected that economic improvement would boost crude oil demand. On the other hand, Iran’s threat to impose further oil embargo on Western countries made the market worried about insufficient supply. Affected by the above factors, Brent crude futures rose to $121.15 per barrel yesterday, while crude oil futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange touched $105.44 per barrel. Data released yesterday by China Customs showed that China’s crude oil import from Iran dropped 14% month-on-month in January. China is the largest importer of Iranian crude oil, followed by Japan, which is also in East Asia. Affected by the continuous rise of international oil prices, weighted average changes of crude oil prices in Brent, Dubai, and Cinta were rapidly approaching 4%. According to data provided by ICIS C1 Energy, as of February 20, it had reached 2.82%. The long-term impact of "Iranian oil cutoff" was difficult to predict. Iranian authorities said on Monday that they would expand the oil embargo from Britain and France to other European countries. This move once drove New York oil prices up to $105.44 per barrel, setting a new 9-month high. However, Didier Houssin, Director of Energy Markets and Security Department of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said that the crude oil market could cope with the decline in Iran's oil exports related to sanctions, including sudden interruptions in crude oil supply to the EU. "The Iran issue has a great psychological impact on the international crude oil market, which will push up short- and medium-term international oil prices. However, it is hard to say about the long-term impact. Global economic fundamentals are not optimistic. We can see that the price of crude oil futures for delivery in December this year is actually lower than the current price," said Chu Jiewang, analyst at ICIS C1 Energy. "We believe that Iran's cutoff of supplies to France and Britain will not have a substantial impact on the market because they (the two countries) have already stopped purchasing crude oil from Iran," said Didier Houssin. Xinhua Overseas Finance reported that European oil buyers had reduced purchases of Iranian oil before the sanctions. Oil shipments to Europe in March fell by more than one-third, or more than 300,000 barrels per day.