US oil company executives are reportedly exploring preliminary business opportunities in Iran that could emerge if economic sanctions are relaxed as part of an agreement regarding the country’s nuclear energy activities. The companies represented by these individuals were not identified. “It is forecast that by the visit of [the] American delegation this week and in the case of lifting sanctions on Iran’s oil industry, we will witness involvement of major international American oil and gas companies in Iran in the future,” deputy Oil Minister Abbas Sheri-Moghaddam told Mehr. [The Hill]

The chairman of Chinese NOC Sinopec announced retirement on Monday. “Fu, the industry’s most recognized executive, will be succeeded by Wang Yupu, a former deputy director of China Academy of Engineering and an oil industry veteran, with prior experience of working at the country’s flagship Daqing oilfield.” [Reuters via Rigzone]

Barclays bank won a US Supreme Court ruling allowing it to maintain control of $4 billion worth of disputed assets obtained in 2008 when Lehman folded amid the financial crisis. “Barclays won court approval to buy much of Lehman’s brokerage business at a Sept. 19, 2008, hearing overseen by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck in Manhattan. A dispute remained, however, over how to dispose of various ‘cash’ assets of the brokerage. These included the $4 billion of margin assets held by third parties to support a Lehman exchange-traded derivatives business.” [Reuters]