Oil prices were on the rise again on Monday, after experiencing several sessions at half-mast last week, as fears of insufficient crude supply took over.
Around 09:20 GMT, a barrel of Brent from the North Sea, for delivery in September, gained 2.28% to 103.47 dollars. A barrel of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery in August, took 2.04% to 99.58 dollars.
“Oil prices are trading higher, trying to reverse the trend after last week’s sharp declines” linked to “fears of a global recession and weaker demand”, comments Victoria Scholar, an analyst at Interactive investor.
โSupply concerns have once again taken precedence over weakening demand anxiety in oil markets,โ said Susannah Streeter of Hargreaves Lansdown.
According to the analyst, โuncertainty is growing about the impact of a possible Russian crude price cap in the context of the war in Ukraine, as Moscow prepares for its next offensiveโ.
At the end of June, the leaders of the G7 countries pledged to develop a “mechanism” to cap the price of Russian oil at the global level in order to deprive Moscow of part of its energy windfall.
UBS analysts also note in a note that the progressive European embargo on Russian crude will result in “a reduction of almost 3 million barrels per day of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia by the end of end of the year” and “will further tighten the market.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden made his first official tour of the Middle East last week with a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia, hoping for a boost from the world’s largest crude oil exporter to bring down the high price of oil. oil.
“There are no signs of an imminent breakthrough in the US administration’s efforts to persuade the Gulf states to pump more oil,” said Susannah Streeter.
“I’m doing everything I can” to increase oil supply, Biden said after bilateral meetings with Saudi leaders on Friday, adding that the results would not be visible “for two weeks.”
His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, however, tempered expectations, telling reporters that any action “will be taken within the framework of OPEC+”, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies.