The two benchmark prices have gained more than 30% since November 1. (Photo: 123RF)
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Oil prices pulled back a little on Friday, after highs in more than nine months reached the day before, with investors clinging to hopes of a recovery in demand for COVID-19 vaccines .
Around 7:45 a.m., a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for February delivery lost 0.28% in London compared to Thursday’s close at $ 50.11.
The US barrel of WTI for the month of January dropped 0.17% to 46.70 dollars.
The two benchmark prices have gained more than 30% since November 1. On Thursday, Brent peaked at $ 51.06 a barrel and WTI at $ 47.74, a record since March 5 and 4, respectively.
“The optimism about vaccines that has gripped the market for a few weeks seems to continue due to successive approvals and the faster than expected deployment of the first campaigns in key markets” for oil consumption, Paola Rodriguez said. -Masiu, Rystad analyst.
The UK launched its Tuesday, a first in a Western country, and investors are now waiting for others to follow suit across the world to end travel restrictions and boost demand for crude.
Across the Atlantic, a committee of independent experts voted on Thursday to recommend to the United States Medicines Agency (FDA) to authorize in the United States a first vaccine against COVID-19, developed by the Pfizer / BioNTech duo. The green light should follow in the next few days and the vaccination will start next week.
“Even before their large-scale application, vaccines already seem to cause side effects in the market: acute myopia,” Ms. Rodriguez-Masiu added.
According to her, investors have chosen “to completely ignore the fragility in which (the market) is still in the short term”.
The recovery in demand for crude oil is still in its infancy, as evidenced by the significant increase in crude stocks in the United States last week, while supply is set to grow, in particular from the signatory countries of the Opep + (the 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and 10 allies) from January.
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