The price of oil listed in New York ended Friday at its highest level since the middle of October 2018, approaching 70 dollars a barrel, driven by the policy of contained supply of OPEC + and a demand which is returning in particular to the United States.
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In New York, a barrel of WTI for the month of July climbed to $ 69.62, up 81 cents or 1.17%, reaching a peak since mid-October 2018. A barrel of Brent from the Sea of North for August delivery closed at $ 71.89 in London, up 58 cents or 0.81% from Thursday’s close. The day before, Brent had reached a high since May 22, 2019, at $ 71.99.
“The strong oil prices are not going to disappear, supported by the discipline of supply within OPEC + and the enthusiasm in the face of the prospect of stronger demand this summer”, summarized Louise Dickson of Rystad Energy. “The main price driver (…) remains OPEC + ‘s decision to gradually increase the world oil supply”, and not to open the floodgates wide, underlined Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst of Swissquote Bank. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their ten allies, united since the end of 2016 by the OPEC + agreement, in fact decided on Tuesday to comply with their policy of gradually increasing production, an approach cautious and for the moment limited until July.
State of crude reserves
The market also took notice Thursday – a day later than usual due to a holiday Monday in the United States – of the state of US crude reserves. The latter are down 5.1 million barrels last week, double the 2.5 million barrels expected by analysts, according to the US Energy Information Agency (EIA). Datas “Which can be explained by the fact that refiners have accelerated the processing of petroleum in anticipation of the demand for fuels for transport”, explained Stephen Brennock of PVM. An increase maybe a little “Premature”, he qualifies, since stocks of gasoline and distilled products have increased. “Nonetheless, US demand for fuel is expected to accelerate in the coming weeks” as the country “continues to benefit from a vaccine-boosted recovery”, concludes Stephen Brennock.
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