(LONDON) Oil prices stabilized on Thursday, the rise caused the day before by a drop in commercial reserves already fading due to investor pessimism about the health of the global economy, and by extension the demand for gold black.
Around 6:10 a.m. (Eastern time), a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in August, yielded 0.14% to 73.93 dollars.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery the same month, fell 0.07% to 69.51 dollars.
After Wednesday’s rebound, “the market is less buoyant given the determined comments from the Fed,” commented analysts at ING.
The boss of the American Federal Reserve (Fed) Jerome Powell assured that, despite unchanged rates in June, the central bank could still raise them in two consecutive meetings to fight against inflation.
Higher rates weigh on the borrowing power of companies and individuals, and therefore on economic activity, reducing the demand for oil altogether.
The day before, however, prices had jumped in the wake of data on United States crude reserves, which fell sharply over a week, by 9.6 million barrels according to figures from the American Information Agency on energy (EIA).
“The sharper-than-expected drop in crude inventories is notable, as it supports those who believe the oil market will suffer from a supply shortfall in the second half of the year,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst at CBA.
“Macroeconomic doubts have weighed on prices recently, but the consequences for demand should be less than the disruptions to supply”, in particular due to the efforts of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to voluntarily limit its extractions , he explains.
