(London) Oil prices rose slightly on Wednesday, with the military coup in Gabon reminding the market of geopolitical risks weighing on supply, and early oil statistics in the United States showing a drop in inventories.
Around 6:20 a.m. EST, a barrel of Brent North Sea oil, for October delivery, was up 0.67% at $86.06.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, gained 0.80% to 81.81 dollars.
Oil is pushed up by “a massive drop in American oil statistics and a military coup in an OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Editor’s note) producer, Gabon,” explain DNB analysts .
The military announced on Wednesday that they were “ending the regime in place” in Gabon, a coup d’état targeting outgoing President Ali Bongo, in power for 14 years and whose re-election had just been announced overnight.
While Gabon is “a minor OPEC producer” with production of around 200,000 barrels per day, “this is a reminder (that) geopolitical risk in the oil market” still exists, DNB analysts continue.
Investors are also awaiting the release of the U.S. Commercial Weekly Inventory Statement from the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) for the week ended August 25.
The industry’s federation, the American Petroleum Institute (API), estimated Tuesday that crude stocks fell by about 11.49 million barrels last week, but gasoline stocks increased by 1.395 million. of barrels. However, API data are considered less reliable than those of the EIA.
“If such a decline is confirmed […] by the EIA, it should be decidedly positive for oil prices,” said James Harte of Tickmill.
Analysts expect a more modest fall of 2.191 million barrels in commercial crude reserves, and a decline of 1.25 million barrels in gasoline, according to the median of a consensus compiled by Bloomberg.
