Oil holds steady under $74

SINGAPORE (AP): Oil prices held steady under $74 a barrel in Asian trading Tuesday amid lingering concern that international pressure on Iran to drop its nuclear program may lead to disruptions in the country's oil exports. Light, sweet crude for June delivery was flat at US$73.70 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The contract jumped $1.82 Monday to settle at $73.70 a barrel in response to refinery outages in Italy and California, violence in Nigeria, the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports, and Iran's defiance of a U.N. Security Council deadline on Friday to stop enriching uranium.

"Traders are most concerned about the Iranian issue, as the situation appears to be getting worse," said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist with Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo.

The United States, Britain and France plan to introduce a new Security Council resolution this week which would make Iran's compliance with their demands mandatory, and enforceable through sanctions or military action.

China and Russia, the two other council members with veto power, oppose sanctions and military action and want the Iran nuclear issue resolved diplomatically, with the IAEA taking the lead, not the Security Council. There has been no talk of economic sanctions that could slow Iran's oil exports.

China is a big customer for Iranian oil, and a cutoff of its oil exports would likely send oil prices surging.