International oil prices ended Thursday’s session with a fall, following a recent rally, with strong demand and short-term supply disruptions still keeping prices high for more than seven years.
The global benchmark, Brent oil delivery in March, closed 6 cents at $ 88.38 a barrel, while on Wednesday it had reached $ 89.17, its highest level since October 2014.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the American WTI crude, February delivery (contract expiring today) also closed down 6 cents at $ 86.90 a barrel. The most active March contract “lost” 15 cents or 0.1% to $ 85.65 a barrel.
“The voices of those who predict $ 100 a barrel are getting louder by the day,” said Tamas Varga of PVM.
Concerns over the offer intensified this week, following the disruption of flows due to a fire on a pipeline from Kirkuk, Iraq, to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on Tuesday.
An attack by pro-Iranian Shiite Houthis in Yemen on the United Arab Emirates, OPEC’s third-largest oil exporter, has also highlighted the geopolitical risk in the market.
The prices are also supported by the reduced production of the OPEC + cartel countries in relation to their commitments, with the group of 23 countries being 800,000 barrels per day below the target it had set for December.
Varga notes, however, that high levels of inflation and the prospect of rising interest rates pose a risk to the oil rally.
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