(New York) Oil prices ended up rebounding on Friday after six consecutive sessions of decline, an essentially technical jump, also fueled by opportunity purchases.
The price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in February, gained 2.41%, to close at $75.84.
As for the American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), with maturity in January, it increased by 2.72%, to 71.23 dollars.
Over the week since the communication from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its OPEC alliance partners, WTI had fallen by almost 11%.
“At some point you run out of sellers,” commented Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates, “and those who were short want to hedge” by buying back oil and reaping profits. .
“At less than 70 dollars, a barrel seems cheap given geopolitical developments in the world,” explains the analyst, who mentions, among the latest, the attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea from Yemen and the targeting of Venezuela in an oil-rich region administered by Guyana.
Illustration of the new attractiveness of the price of crude, the American Department of Energy officially launched, on Friday, a call for tenders for the purchase of three million barrels.
This involves replenishing the United States’ strategic reserves, from which the Biden government drew more than 270 million barrels between September 2021 and last July.
The ministry said it plans to issue monthly tenders until April 2024.
For José Torres, analyst at Interactive Brokers, this announcement contributed to strengthening crude prices.
But Oanda’s Craig Erlam pointed out that despite Friday’s rally, WTI was still close to its five-month low of $68.80 on Thursday.
“This shows that operators remain doubtful about the OPEC agreement,” which provides for new cuts of 900,000 barrels per day in net, from January to March, the analyst estimated. “It also suggests that they are not particularly optimistic about the trajectory of the economy next year. »
In the days to come, Andy Lipow anticipates, “the market will continue to focus on global demand, particularly in China, as well as the rise in supply from the United States and Brazil.”
