(New York) Oil prices continued their ascent on Wednesday, still supported by Saudi statements raising fears of further production cuts, but also helped by firming demand in the United States.
The price of a barrel of Brent North Sea oil for July delivery gained 1.97%, to close at $78.36.
Its American equivalent, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) of the same maturity, took 1.96%, to 74.34 dollars.
“It all started with Saudi Arabia’s comments to speculators suggesting they are ready to further cut production to support prices,” said Bart Melek of TD Securities.
“I warn (the speculators) that they will suffer,” similar to what they experienced in early April, Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday, referring to the surprise announcement. early last month of volume cuts by eight members of the OPEC alliance (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their OPEC agreement partners).
The next OPEC ministerial meeting is scheduled for June 4.
“There are probably speculative trader takeovers going on,” to avoid losses if prices accelerate, according to Bart Melek.
The momentum was fueled on Wednesday by figures from the US Energy Information Agency (EIA), which reported a surprise drop of 12.5 million barrels in commercial stocks of US crude, as that the market was expecting a rise of 2 million barrels.
This is the strongest one-week contraction since November.
Inventories of gasoline and distillate products, which include diesel in particular, have also declined and are at a lower level than the same time last year.
“Demand is strong,” commented Bart Melek, “so the market is looking at tighter conditions in the coming months,” “despite the fact that the Federal Reserve is still on the offensive (on the monetary side) and the arrival of ‘a recession’.
At 20.7 million barrels per day, shipments of refined products to the United States reached their highest level since December, as the Memorial Day holiday weekend (May 27-29), which traditionally marks the kick off of the season of major road trips.
Despite the surge in crude, prices remain prisoners, for the moment, of technical thresholds beyond which they have not managed to rise in recent weeks, recalls Bart Melek.
