(New York) Oil prices resumed their advance on Thursday, boosted by a series of indicators that paint a picture of a still-strong US economy amid tight supply.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for September delivery rose 1.59% to close at $84.24.
As for the barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity, it gained 1.66%, to 80.09 dollars. The reference variety in the United States had not closed above the symbolic threshold of 80 dollars for three and a half months.
The black gold market was enthused by the series of US macroeconomic data released on Thursday. “They were all supportive” of oil demand and an acceleration in prices, commented John Kilduff of Again Capital.
Growth reached 2.4% year on year in the second quarter in the United States, well above the 2% projected by economists, while durable goods orders also came out in June, well in beyond expectations.
New weekly jobless claims have, for their part, recorded a decrease, when economists saw them inflate.
These figures added to the feeling that the US central bank (Fed) “is done with its tightening cycle”, after another hike in its key rate on Wednesday, added John Kilduff.
“All the lights were green,” said the analyst, before the rise in bond rates and the reversal of Wall Street did calm the heat of the markets a little in the second part of the session.
For Daniel Ghali, of TD Securities, the jump in crude after a decline on Wednesday was also due to redemptions by speculative traders who were still positioned on the downside.
This good news for demand comes in a context of constrained supply, mainly by volume reductions from Saudi Arabia and Russia.
But according to data reported by Reuters, Russia is expected to boost exports in September, following the 500,000 barrels per day cut promised for August.
Several refineries in the country must, in fact, carry out maintenance operations, which will reduce their capacities and push Russian producers to export more.
As for the Saudis, they have not committed beyond August and are leaving uncertainty about their fall production.
“If Russia ramps up its exports in September and starts to take market share from the Saudis to the point of irritating them, they will not extend” the production cut of one million barrels per day decreed for July and August, anticipates John Kilduff.